Teaching Toph
by blankdreamer-13
Summary: Aang is training, and Toph is once again trying to beat the airbender out of him. Wanting to explain his situation, Aang tries to teach her a bit about airbending.
1. Teaching Toph

A/N: Another one! These things are just too fun to write! That, and I'm bored XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Teaching Toph**

"Get up, Twinkle toes! We're not done yet!"

It was just another regular day of training. Aang was currently sprawled on the Western Air Temple floor, which was what he did for more than half the time whenever he trained with his earthbending master. He took in a few more ragged breaths before looking up to the blind girl.

"Come on, Toph!" he whined. "We've been training for hours! Can't I get a break?"

"Aww, is the wittle Avataw tired?" she teased. "Well, tough luck. You think the Fire Lord is gonna let you call time out if you're tired when you come to face him?"

"Well, maybe if I-"

"No! Of course not! That's why we need to toughen you up! Now come on!" she barked.

Aang wearily staggered to his feet, taking an earthbending stance. One of these days, Fire Lord Ozai is going to send Toph a gift package in gratitude for finishing off the Avatar for him.

Toph gave the ground a hard stomp, launching a boulder straight at Aang. Tensing up, he shattered the projectile with the back of his hand. His earthbending teacher smiled at this. She would never say it, but Aang really had improved a lot. He really had an earthbender's attitude now, steadfast and firm. Or stubborn as Katara would call it.

She continued launching a barrage of earthen missiles at him, and then decided to kick it up a notch. Quite a few notches in Aang's opinion. She plunged her hands into the stone floor and with a great roar pulled up a boulder the size of Appa.

"Take this!" she yelled, hurling the huge chunk of stone at him.

But Aang did not take it. He never had any intention of taking it. He quickly stepped to the side, dodging the Appa boulder quite easily.

"Whew, that could've been ugly." A blunt spike shot out of the ground and into Aang's stomach. He was knocked ten feet in the air and landed with a loud and dull thud. "I take that back," he groaned.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at him. "You should have caught that thing! I told you! You have to face things head on!"

"But Toph-"

"No buts! We've been through this before! Hasn't anything in training penetrated that thick skull of yours? I can't believe I actually thought you had gotten it!"

"Toph-"

"I'll say it again! You have to stop thinking like an airbender and-"

"Toph!"

He had finally managed to get her to stop her ranting and listen a moment. Really, wasn't waiting and listening supposed to be her specialty?

"Toph, no matter what you say, I am and always will be an airbender. Just like I am a waterbender, earthbender, and firebender and will continue to be. I can't just stop being an airbender just to earthbend."

"And? What are you trying to say?" she asked, folding her arms.

"I'm saying that I always have options. Sure, I could have punched that boulder to pieces like you say an earthbender would, but I could also dodge it, like an airbender, which would save much more time and effort."

It didn't seem like she was listening. She had actually sat down and started picking her toes in the middle of his talk.

"Are you done? Or do I have to get Momo to listen to you awhile?"

"Argh! You're so frustrating!" If Aang had hair, he would be pulling at it right now. "Sometimes I wish you knew what it felt like to balance two opposites."

"Well, too bad," she scoffed. "What are you gonna do? Teach me airbending?"

The young monk's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's a great idea!"

"What?"

-x-

"This is stupid."

Toph was currently standing in an airbending form which Aang had nagged her into. She felt so stupid. The stance felt so wrong, it was too... light. Her footing wasn't as rooted to the ground as she was in an earthbending stance. No wonder she could push Aang around so easily.

"No it's not! And besides, it was your idea."

"Does the word sarcasm mean anything to you?"

He ignored Toph's comment and looked at her stance with a critical eye. "You're stance looks okay, but you're too stiff. Loosen up."

"You're telling me, an earthbender, to loosen up?"

"Yep."

"Okay, I thought this was stupid before, but we're getting close to Sokka's level. Why the heck are you trying to teach me airbending? No matter how hard I try, I won't be able to bend air."

"You don't need to airbend to learn airbending." Aang said. Toph arched an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, I know that sounded stupid, but it's exactly what it means."

"Whatever. I'm outta here." She turned her back on him and started walking away.

"I'll prove it you," he said, an air of confidence in his voice. "Come at me with everything you've got, and I'll beat you without using any bending."

"Are you stupid, Twinkle toes?" she asked, turning to him. "I'd wipe the floor with you, even if you used bending."

"Does that mean you agree?"

"Fine. If I win, you have to listen and do whatever I say."

"Okay."

"Even out of training," she added with a smirk. Aang actually flinched. Now he really had to win.

"Alright," he finally consented. "And if I win, you'll let me teach you airbending."

"As if that's gonna happen. I hope you've enjoyed an airbender's freedom Twinkle toes 'cuz those days are over."

Taking initative, Toph made a chopping motion with the blade of her hand. Three pillars erupted from the ground at Aang's left. Moving fluidly, he spun out of the way. Toph continued her attack, sending a barrage of boulders straight at him, but he simply ducked, dodged, and guided them away from him.

He was slowly working his way closer to her. He was starting to wonder whether he had taken on more than what he could handle. It's just that he couldn't help himself, he just _had_ to teach Toph some airbending. But there was no point in thinking of it, he had to win. No way he would survive following Toph's instructions for more than a few days.

Toph, noticing his subtle attempt at approaching her, decided to end it. The moment Aang made another step toward her, she gave the ground a hard stomp, stone spikes jutting out from under her in all directions. Now that she had closed of any way of approaching her, the match was as good as won.

But strangely, she couldn't sense him anywhere. She tapped her foot and gasped when the vibrations came back. He was standing right behind her.

"You wanna give up now?" he asked, amusement in his voice.

"No way!"

She threw boulders, launched spikes, even resorted to hand-to-hand, but Aang was just too fast. He would just evade every attack at him, as if he was just dancing circles around her. Soon, Toph was on all fours, breathing heavily, with Aang standing before her.

"Are you done yet?"

Toph managed a glare at his general direction. "Don't think," she huffed, staggering to her feet, "that I'm gonna -huff- let you win -huff- that easily-" She stumbled forward, but before she hit the ground, Aang had rushed forward and caught her.

"Whoa there. Take it easy. Come on, let's go back to camp." He helped her back up, supporting her.

"I can go back myself," she retorted. She pushed him away but ended up stumbling into him again.

"Okay, lesson number one: loosen up. Stop being so stubborn! Air isn't all that powerful, so it adapts, moving and flowing freely. It doesn't go head on, forcing itself, but slips in subtly through the small cracks, coming at different angles. Right now, you're in no condition and in no position to be putting up a fight." He squatted with his back toward her. "So be quiet and let me carry you back."

Surprisingly, Toph got on without any fussing. Aang smiled. It was nice to be the teacher for once. They made their way back slowly, but the silence they walked in seemed strained. Like Toph was holding something in.

"You know, Toph," Aang said. "Because it can move freely, air is also very expressive." Though he couldn't see it, he knew Toph was listening intently. "Whenever you feel something, whether it's good or bad, don't be afraid to show it. Especially to us. After all, we are your friends."

She remained silent for a few moments. "I couldn't beat you even though you weren't using any bending. I've never been so humiliated."

"Aw, come on, Toph!" he said airily. "Humiliation is hardly anything between friends. Cheer up. As soon as I teach you a bit of airbending, you'll be pounding me back in the dirt in no time."

He could feel her smile. She suddenly nestled her head into his shoulder and wrapped her arms gently around Aang's neck. He blinked, very surprised.

"Toph?"

Her hug suddenly tightened, becoming a choke hold.

"These airbending lessons better not be a waste of my time, Twinkle toes."

Aang smiled, despite not being able to breathe. At least she was expressing herself.

* * *

A/N: This was kinda tough. My fics usually write themselves but I actually had to think for this one, especially in the fighting sequence and bending logic. Please review!


	2. Airbender's Thinking

A/N: This fic was originally supposed to be a oneshot, but when some people mentioned it, I realized that it could still be expanded. And since it was pretty much fun to write, I decided to add to it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Airbender's Thinking**

It was once again, time for training. However, this time, it wasn't your regular training because now, the role of teacher and student had been reversed, and the subject matter changed. Unfortunately, this did nothing to help with their usual quarrels.

"Come on, Toph! You're still too stiff."

"It's not me that's stiff, Twinkle toes! This stance is too soft!"

It was Toph's first formal lesson of airbending. They had been arguing a lot more compared to their time actually training, and even though they had already been at it a couple of hours, they had hardly made any progress.

"Really, Toph. Here, let me show you what's wrong. Get into the basic stance."

Toph made a fuss but eventually followed. Though she complained a lot, surprisingly, she still hadn't done anything drastic for her to actually stop being taught airbending. Aang smiled at this thought. He knew that if she really wanted to, she would just get up and leave, so this must mean that she really wants to learn.

"Okay, I'm in position," she said lazily. "Now what?"

Aang suddenly rushed forward and gave her a rather generous shove, which resulted in her being pushed over and knocked to the ground. She sat on the stone floor, dazed a moment. She had seen his attack just before it had gotten to her, but wasn't able to move quick enough to do anything about it.

"See? You fell."

Unfortunately for him, Toph did not see (no pun intended). She was much too angry at being pushed down to see anything.

"What was that for?"

"It's kinda the only way you'll learn," Aang said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "If you weren't so stiff, you wouldn't have fallen down."

"What do you mean? It's only because I was in that sorry stance that I was pushed down. If I was in my earthbending stance, I wouldn't have even budged an inch."

"True, but that's earthbending. Being tough isn't the only way to take an attack."

"This airbending stuff is really weird," she said getting up. Feeling Aang rushing toward her again, she got into her earthbending stance just before he pushed her again. This time, she really didn't budge an inch.

"Ha! Let's see how you like it Twinkle toes!" She quickly closed the distance between herself and Aang, but just before her open palms could make contact, Aang stepped out of the way, leaving her to crash into the ground again.

Aang did all he could to hold in his laughter, but the best he could manage were suppressed choking sounds. It was really fun teaching Toph, despite all her complaining. He doubt he would have this much fun with a student like Katara or Zuko.

Toph finally managed to pick herself up from the ground. She sent him a glare that would make most people shrink back. "Hey, no fair! You dodged!"

"Exactly." Seeing Toph's confused face, he continued. "Earlier, when I first pushed you, you saw me coming right? It's just that you weren't able to do anything. That's because you're too stiff. I've told you before already, air is flexible, almost intangible. We airbenders rely on that flexibility to move as quickly as possible and move any way imaginable."

"We?"

"Yeah, you're kinda an airbender now too," he smiled. "Pupil airbender though. You're not anywhere close to mastering the basics."

Even though Toph rather disagreed with the method of teaching, she was able to basically comprehend what Aang was trying to teach her. She once again got up from the floor, and without Aang telling her to, got into an airbending stance. There was no way she would allow Twinkle toes to get the better of her.

"Come on, let's see you try that again," she challenged.

Aang immediately complied, but despite her being able to move, it wasn't enough. To her frustration, she was sent sprawling over the temple floor again. Not admitting defeat, she got up once more. This went on for the whole of the next hour, Aang rushing forward to push Toph, Toph trying to move out of the way, Toph being knocked to the ground anyway.

"Argh! This is so frustrating! Why can't I get it?" she yelled, getting up from the floor again. Aang, however, definitely wasn't helping her mood, as he tried to choke back his laughter. "What are you laughing at?"

"You!" he finally laughed out loud. "See how frustrating it is, learning your opposite? Honestly, it's quite funny seeing you like that."

"Hmph! I've had enough," she huffed. She turned her back to Aang and started walking away.

"Aw, Toph!" he whined. "Come on, don't be like that." He jogged to her side, reaching a hand out to stop her. But just before his hand made contact, she suddenly whirled around and gave him a strong push, knocking him a good five feet away.

"Ha! How'd you like that?" she laughed. But she wasn't the only one laughing. Aang was laughing too.

"That was great Toph!"

"Huh? Why the heck are you laughing?" The fact that Aang seemed to be unaffected by it put Toph in a bad mood again. She would have liked to see him disappointed at least. Whimpering at most.

"What you just did, it was great! You're starting to think like an airbender!" Seeing Toph's confused expression, he explained. "I told you the other day, airbenders aren't straightforward. They aren't particularly strong, so they look for ways to get an advantage. What you just did right now, luring me in so that you could get an easy shot at me, it was a great example of airbender thinking!"

He got up and dusted himself off. "And besides, look..." He rushed forward again, attempting to push Toph down like he had been doing for the past hour. However, Toph had managed to step away just in time. "...You're starting to move like an airbender too," he smiled.

Toph smiled as well, proud of herself, but immediately tried covering it up. "So? Why should I be happy of being like an airbender? I mean they're wimpy, and gutless, and-"

"Toph, remember what I said about expressing yourself?"

"Okay, okay." She straightened up, giving him a genuine smile. She made a small bow, "Thanks, Sifu Aang."

Aang smiled and bowed in return. "Anytime, pupil Toph."

They both looked up at each other and cracked up, laughing at how formal they were being. Aang knew she had meant her gratitude though, and he truly appreciated it.

"By the way, is this how the monks taught you?" she asked.

"Nope," he smiled. "Made it up. Earthbending-style airbending lessons."

"Thought so. This method is way too tough for guys like you."

"Anyway, lesson's over for today! Come on, let's get back."

"Hold up," Toph ordered. Aang immediately tensed up, noticing that her commanding tone had returned. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Camp?"

"Nope." Her usual smirk was once again on her face. "You still haven't gotten your lesson today. And if you think that I'm done with payback, think again."

Aang's shoulders sagged. "Yes, Sifu Toph."

Her laughs and his groans were heard throughout the temple for the rest of the day.

* * *

A/N: It's getting tougher to write this thing. I actually had to research about Ba Gua, the martial art airbending is based on. Still fun though. Again, like I said, I have decided to add more to this story. But because this was originally intended as a oneshot, I don't have a concrete story in mind, and I'll probably only be able to add when I get a good idea or if I work long enough on it, so don't expect quick posts. Don't worry, I really do intend to add more, it's just I don't know if I should create an actual plot for this thing, or give it an actual ending. Anyway, we'll see. Please review!


	3. Move Like the Wind

A/N: Yeah, I know I said that it might take awhile to update, but a few ideas suddenly hit me and I just had to write this down as soon as I could. Wasn't doing anything anyway... I seriously need a life XP

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Move Like the Wind**

"Toph..." Aang whispered airily. "Time for training."

He gently blew a soft breeze over her sleeping face, getting a small mumble out of her.

"Buzz off, Twinkle toes," she murmured.

Aang smirked, suddenly increasing the power of his airbending from a gentle breeze to that of a small tornado, managing to lift her a few feet from the ground. Noticing the loss of contact to the earth, Toph was jolted awake.

"Twinkle toes! Put me down!"

"Okay."

He stopped the flow of air around her. She would have hit the floor rather painfully, but she managed to twist herself in midair and landed skillfully on her feet.

Aang whistled, impressed. "Not bad, you're at the very least as flexible as most people right now."

Not appreciating being woken up so unceremoniously, she strode over to her airbending master and gave him a good punch on the shoulder. "Tell me you have a good reason for the rude wake up call, or I will hurt you."

"It wasn't that rude was it? I would think that its quite fun to be woken up like that." Toph responded with another punch. "Ow! Okay, okay. Anyway, I told you, it's time for your training," he smiled.

"I think you're enjoying teaching me too much Twinkle toes," she said, shaking her head. She was smiling though. She had to admit, to herself at least, that lessons with Aang were quite entertaining.

"I don't think I can enjoy myself too much," he replied smilingly. "Not like this anyway. So, ready to start, pupil Toph?"

She smirked. Like he needed to ask. "Born ready, Sifu Aang."

"Alright, stretches first, basic movement, and we'll move from there."

"Again? We've been doing that for days," she groaned.

"That's because you still haven't mastered them yet," Aang said, poking her teasingly.

"Fine," she huffed. She moved to the center of the hall and began stretching out her sleepy muscles with Aang watching her.

_She's definitely a lot more limber now_, Aang thought, watching her stretch. _But..._

Finally done with her stretches, Toph positioned herself in her airbending stance. She stood with her feet spaced, left in front of the right. Her left hand was stretched in front of her, her right hovering in front of her chest, palms open and facing down. She began her exercise, crossing her right foot in front of her left, moving with crisscrossing steps in a circular path.

However, there was something slightly wrong in her movement. Aang had noticed the problem the first time she had attempted the exercise, and he racked his brain trying to think of a solution. It definitely wasn't easy thinking of airbending lessons for an earthbender. Then again, knowing Toph, he could just think of some lesson that would annoy the heck out of her until she got it without realizing.

"You're doing it wrong," he called out, a smug smile on his face.

Toph shot him an irritated glare. Still, she tried to keep her temper from boiling over. "And that is?"

"What? You mean you can't even tell?" Aang asked mockingly. '_I'm dead.'_

Aang was only just able to duck a rocketing boulder that was aimed at his head. "That's it!" Toph yelled. "You'd better be ready for some bruises, Twinkle toes!"

"Gotta catch me first!" Aang called back. He didn't run off, but instead just kept on dancing in and out of her reach. Toph tried to keep him from moving around so much using her earthbending but he still managed to get away.

"You need earthbending to catch me?" he taunted. "C'mon, I haven't even used any kind of bending yet."

He knew he was just digging a deeper grave for himself just by taunting her, but what he had said worked. Unable to let Aang get the better of her, she had abandoned all use of earthbending and tried to catch him just by chasing him. To a random passerby, it would look like they were playing a simple game of tag, though maybe a bit more violent.

"You can do better than that, Toph!" Aang called after dodging another lunge at him.

"Shut up!"

"Whoops! Almost got me there!" Aang laughed, jumping out of his pupil's reach.

Toph stopped from her pusuit and doubled over, panting heavily. She felt Aang take a few steps toward her but not close enough for her to grab him.

"I know what you're thinking, but it's not gonna work this time," he said in a teasing tone.

Toph growled but she supposed she shouldn't have been so hopeful for Aang to be that stupid. She got up again and chased him down once more. She managed to surprise him in one attempt when she had faked lunging at him, getting him to dodge before she really did anything. However, he still managed to dance just out of her hold.

"Nice! Now we're getting somewhere!"

As they continued their game of tag, Toph had started feeling something strange about her body movement. It was almost like her body was telling her how to move more easily. It was like a slope, and as more time passed, she could feel the slope steepening, pulling her into it, and she started following what her body told her to do. Soon, her movements were completely different from what she would normally do. Often, her movements were sharp, definite, deliberate, and precise, something that was necessary for effective earthbending. But now, she felt like she was... _flowing_.

Without realizing it, her hand had already gripped Aang's collar. "Good job," he said, praising her.

In her slightly dazed state, she had forgotten that she was angry with Aang. "What... was that?"

"You can give yourself a hint to that," he smiled. "Go on, repeat the basic movement."

He stepped back and watched as Toph got into her stance once again. She began moving in a circle, feet stepping over each other, crisscrossing. Aang saw that the problem in her movement was no longer there, and Toph noticed it as well.

"It feels... smoother," she finally said.

"Exactly. Earlier, you deliberately made each movement, each step, each turn, everything was done with definite movement. And because you gave each movement such attention, the whole thing just became a bunch of separate moves bunched together."

"I don't get it," Toph admitted, confused. Aang smiled, she was a lot more honest with herself now.

"Here's an example. A boulder can be broken down to smaller pieces, but even if they're broken down, they retain a certain value because they are part of a whole. That's what you did earlier, executing each move as deliberately as you could. The result was strong but choppy movement." Toph nodded, following so far. "Air, on the other hand, cannot be halved, broken down, separated, or anything. It will always be a whole. We use this in airbending, we move the body as a whole. Each part coordinates with another, creating a single, fluid motion. To move like the wind."

Toph remained silent a moment, processing all Aang had said. It did make sense, in a way.

"So... why the game of tag?" she asked.

"No real reason." She gave him his third punch for the day. "Ow! Because it would irritate you?" She was rearing her fist back for another punch. "Okay, okay! Jeez, my shoulder hurts enough. Anyway, do you know how I was able to keep dodging you for so long?" She shook her head.

"It was because of that movement of yours, how you did everything deliberately. Because your movement was just a bunch of moves put together, it was very easy to see you tensing up whenever you prepared to lunge at me. But when you started getting tired, you couldn't think about your movements as definitely as you could, making you move smoother. I told you before, airbenders look for advantages that are not in strength. By moving in a fluid motion, not only can you move more easily, it makes it harder for others to see changes in your movement, seeing as everything blends together. That's how you were able to catch me."

"Does this mean you can't dodge me anymore?" she smirked.

Aang stuck his tongue out at her. "Hey! I was going easy on you, you know!"

"Oh, really?" She suddenly rushed toward him, hands outstretched. "Think fast, Twinkle toes!"

She could feel him dodge, but using her newly learned skills, she managed to change her direction fluidly toward him. Her smirk grew when she felt her open palms touch him, and she gave him a hard shove.

But strangely, he didn't fall to the floor as she expected. Aang had placed a foot behind him and bent backward, absorbing the blow. The moment the force from Toph's shove had completely moved to him, he straightened his body, and pushing with his rear foot, gave Toph a shove back, sending her sprawling over the floor.

"Hey! What was that?!" It didn't feel like airbending to Toph. It felt too solid to her to be that.

"That was waterbending. Nice try though," Aang smirked, running off.

"Get back here, Twinkle toes! I'm not done with you yet!"

* * *

A/N: There, another chapter done! This fic is really giving me a chance to improve describing movement and stuff, which I kinda think I suck at.

Anyway, I need some feedback. I mentioned waterbending up there, which I had already intended to put when I continued this fic. After all, I can only write so much about airbending (like I said before, each chapter gets tougher to write unless I manage to get a great idea). Still, I need to know if you guys would rather have this fic focus on airbending or if you want it to expand to others. It will expand eventually (just because I want it to, sorry) but feedback will help me know how to pace Toph's learning until Aang changes the lesson. Let me hear your opinion in your review!


	4. Meditation

A/N: I'm back with the next lesson! Go on ahead! :D

Dislcaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Meditation**

Toph sat at their little camp in one of the Western Air Temple's halls, leaning against one of the sides of her rock tent. It was a bit strange, she didn't feel like picking on anyone at the moment, not even Sokka. Maybe it was because it was almost time for her airbending lesson. She had to admit that she was looking forward to her lessons with Aang more and more.

But if it was nearly time, Aang should be hovering around somewhere close. He was always more enthusiastic than her when it came to her lessons. She gave the ground a hard open palm strike, absorbing the vibrations from the temple. Zuko and Katara were arguing again, as usual. Sokka was wandering by the edge of the temple, practicing with his sword. Finally, she found the one she was looking for. Aang was sitting by the great fountain, and by the looks of it, he was just... sitting.

"Well, I guess I'll go save Twinkle toes the trouble of finding me."

-x-

Aang was sitting, just like Toph had seen him doing, but that wasn't all that he was doing. He was meditating, the subject of his meditation being Toph's lesson. For some reason, that was usually the only thing in his head nowadays.

He was quite sure that Toph was going to hate the next lesson, but who said airbending training for an earthbender would be a fun experience? Sure, Toph has had it easy until now because so far, he always managed to think of ways to alter the lesson so that it would fit her personality and still manage to teach her properly. But now, there was no other way around it. She would just have to take it as it is.

"Hey, Twinkle toes!" Toph's voice shattered his train of thought. "What are you doing here? I would have thought that you be nagging me right now about your new lesson for me."

"Just having a bit of trouble with it," Aang smiled.

She sat down next to him. "Why? Am I too tough a pupil for you?" she sneered.

"There's no denying you are a tough pupil, but I'm pretty sure I can handle you," he laughed. "Wanna know your next lesson?"

"Sure."

"Meditation."

Toph flopped onto her back, definitely not showing any signs of enthusiasm. "Booooring."

"It's not that bad."

"Of course it is. All you do is sit and breathe. If I want to do that, I'll just go sleep."

"It's not just that," Aang said, his tone slightly reprimanding. "An airbender needs to keep his mind sharp to be able to think quickly and plan carefully. And the best way to do that is through meditation."

"But it's not the only way," she countered, still not showing any signs of interest.

"That's true, but meditation has other uses as well. Not only does it sharpen the mind, but it keeps an airbender's head level and calm. Something which I think you need."

Toph shot up back into a sitting position. "Are you saying I'm hot tempered?"

"Yes," he answered simply. A punch in the shoulder was his reward for that remark. "Ow! See what I mean? Jeez, I really think you should've been born a firebender with that temper..." he muttered, rubbing his aching shoulder.

He looked at Toph, and saw that she still had no interest in learning meditation. "Look, let me just teach you proper meditation this once," he reasoned. "Once you get it, you're free to do it whenever you want."

"Like that's gonna happen." She sighed, knowing that Aang wasn't going to give up nagging her until she conceded. "Okay, teach it to me."

"Alright!" he cheered. "So, first off, your position should be like this..."

Aang spent the next few minutes guiding Toph into a proper meditating position. She was now sitting with her legs crossed, back straight, and closed hands connected, knuckle to knuckle.

"I can't feel my legs," she said bluntly.

"You'll get used to it," he laughed.

"Alright. Thanks for the lesson, Twinkle toes." She started untangling her limbs, getting up, but a firm hand on her shoulder kept her from doing so.

"Hold it. That's just the position, you haven't even started meditating."

Toph groaned. She had thought she could've gotten out of this sooner. "So what? I just start thinking?"

"Pretty much. You can think about anything, your problems, hobbies, favorite things, issues..."

Toph's eye twitched at the last one, but decided to let it slide. She remained silent, and simply sat in her meditative position. After a few minutes, Aang strode over to her, and crouching down, flicked her on the forehead.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I kinda always wanted to do that," Aang chuckled. "Anyway, you're doing it wrong. You're barely thinking about anything when you have to be really concentrating on something."

"And how the heck would you know that I wasn't thinking about anything?" she challenged.

"You were practically nodding off to sleep." Aang fondled his chin in thought, trying to think of a better way to teach his pupil. "I know! Let's try concentrating on a sound. And when you can concentrate on it enough that you're able to ignore distractions, I'll let you go for today."

"And what sound should I concentrate on?"

"I have the perfect thing. Just wait here." Aang rushed off, leaving Toph alone in the room. Only a few moments later, a pair of footsteps echoed through the hall. But instead of Aang, it was Sokka.

"Hey Toph," he greeted. "Watcha doin'?"

"Meditating," she answered curtly.

He made no obvious effort to control himself and laughed out loud. Toph was sorely tempted to hurt him but remembered she was supposed to be meditating, and therefore, must be calm.

"Okay, good one. Anyway, you wanna come hunting with me? I'm getting tired of eating berries and nuts."

"I'm busy."

"Doing what? _Meditating?_" he asked teasingly.

"Yes."

Despite the seriousness of her tone, Sokka still couldn't take a hint. He continued pestering her, trying to convince her to go with him. Just as Toph was about to lose her patience, a soft melody rang through the air. A flute by the sound of it. Sokka, being so loud himself, didn't hear it, but Toph did, and she concentrated on it, tuning out Sokka's voice, effectively saving him from being blasted away via earthbending.

The more Toph listened, the richer the melody sounded. She concentrated even harder, taking in each note, each pause, when the tone went up or down. Images even formed in her head, an image of a tunnel and some girls strangely. Soon, it was as if only she and the melody were the only things that were there.

"Toph?" Sokka, finally noticing Toph's lack of attention, put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her. Definitely a wrong move.

With a small flick of her wrist, Sokka was thrown through the nearest wall, leaving a decent sized hole. As Sokka tried pushing off the rubble that had piled on top of him, Aang entered through the hole he had made. In his hands was a celtic flute.

"I'm impressed," he said. "It took you seven minutes and forty-two seconds before you blasted him away, much longer than what I was expecting. And that was only because he touched you."

"I would have done it sooner or later," she answered. "You were only playing two songs, and it was starting to get boring."

"Don't know that many songs," Aang laughed. "All I know is 'Girls of Ba Sing Se' and 'Two Lovers'."

"Anyway, does this mean I can go?" she asked.

"Does this mean you'll meditate every now and then?"

Toph thought a moment, remembering the feeling of being completely immersed in her meditative trance. It actually felt a bit nice, though maybe a bit boring after some time. "Maybe when I feel like it."

Aang grinned triumphantly. "So should we dig Sokka out of there?"

"Come on, Twinkle toes, let's go eat," she said, completely ignoring what Aang had said.

"But Sokka-"

"Let's go, Twinkle toes." Her tone was definite, and Aang definitely didn't want to go against it.

He looked apologetically in the direction of the rubble Sokka was under. He definitely owed the older boy. After all, Sokka wouldn't be there if he hadn't told him to go bug Toph for a bit.

_Oh well, she meditates now is what's important_, Aang thought. Shrugging off feelings of regret, he followed Toph out the hall.

* * *

A/N: Not too much bending logic here, so it was pretty easy to write. I was finally able to add another of the gaang to the story! Yay! Couldn't find a proper place for them in the previous chapters you see.

'Girls of Ba Sing Se' is the one Iroh sang when he and Zuko were still travelling the Earth Kingdom and 'Two Lovers' is the song of, well, the cave of two lovers near Omashu. Not sure about the titles though.

Anyway, I've pretty much gotten an ok from you people to move on to other bending. Won't happen until after a few chapters though, Toph still needs a few more lessons. Review please!


	5. Airbender's Spirit

A/N: Back again! Sorry if it took a while to update.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Airbender's Spirit**

Aang was busy caught up in his thoughts, despite being in the middle of a training drill Zuko had instructed him to do. He was thinking about his next airbending lesson for Toph. He knew he should concentrate on learning firebending as quickly as he could but teaching Toph was just too much fun! The next lesson was definitely crucial in her learning of airbending but the problem was how to teach it. Before he could think more on it, a fireball Zuko had sent him pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Get your head out of the clouds, Aang."

"Yes, Sifu Hotman."

"Don't call me that!" Aang resumed the drills once again but was soon stopped by Zuko. "Okay, this is pointless. Unless you completely concentrate on what you're doing, we're not gonna make any progress."

Aang flopped onto the temple floor, quite tired from all the firebending drills he had done so far. Zuko sat down next to him.

"This goes against my better judgement, but can I ask what you're preoccupied with?" Zuko asked.

"Oh, I'm just thinking about Toph's next airbending lesson," Aang answered absentmindedly.

"You've been teaching Toph airbending? So Sokka wasn't joking when he said he found her meditating." Amusement was quite clear in his voice. The young monk easily understood why. A tough girl like Toph doing what she called a sissy martial art, the idea in itself was already amusing.

"Yeah, she thought it was stupid too," Aang laughed.

"It's funny, but I never said it was stupid. I actually think it's a good idea. Learning about the other nations and their bending can be quite helpful," Zuko said, his thoughts on the waterbending his uncle Iroh had taught him.

"So you think so too, huh?" Aang thought a moment then turned to his firebending master. "You wanna help me with Toph's lesson? I'm having trouble thinking of ways to do it."

"Seeing as you won't concentrate on your firebending unless you get this done, I don't think I have a choice," he answered with a small smile. "It's not gonna be dangerous though, right?"

"Not at all," Aang smiled.

-x-

"Why are we up here again?" Toph asked. Aang, Toph, and Zuko were all in the large war balloon that they had stolen from Azula. They were already hovering quite a decent distance from the ground.

"Just an exercise," Aang lied nervously. He was quite glad Toph wasn't able to sense him as well as she could have because of the wooden floor. "You know, feeling the wind."

"You brought me up here to feel the wind? Urgh, this is gonna be as boring as meditation..." She slouched over the railing feeling the wind on her face. Other than meditation, most of her lessons with Aang were quite fun, so she was a bit disappointed.

"What's up, Twinkle toes? I can't feel it but you sound kinda nervous."

"Uhm, well, you're used to flying now, right Toph?" Aang asked hesitantly.

"Sure, I guess. I'm not bothered right now if that's why you're asking."

"Oh! That's good! So you won't have a problem riding a glider today, right?"

A moment passed for Toph to process the information. "WHAT?"

"I told you this was a bad idea!" he shouted to Zuko.

"Me? You're the one who said her next lesson was gliding!" Zuko retaliated.

"But it was your idea to bring her up in the war balloon!"

"So she wouldn't hurl chunks of stone at us in case something like this happened! I've heard from Sokka, and I know she can do plenty of dangerous things."

"Blame later! Just hold her down before she tears off that metal beam!"

"Back off!" Toph shouted. "You can't make me go out there!"

Zuko lunged at her before she started destroying the entire war balloon but now that she was armed with Aang's training, she was easily able to dodge him.

"You said this wasn't gonna be dangerous!" Zuko shouted at Aang.

"It isn't! Not yet anyway..."

Shouts, yells, and scuffles echoed through the skies for hours as they tried to calm Toph down. It took awhile but they finally managed to get her to stop tearing through the metal supporting the balloon long enough to land.

Toph jumped out the balloon as soon as they touched down, wanting to get back in contact with her precious earth. She flumped onto the temple's stone floor, making a stone angel.

"Ahh, sweet land," she sighed contentedly.

Aang and Zuko got out of the war balloon after her, both heavily bruised. Toph armed with a metal rod torn from the balloon's supports was a lot more dangerous that what people would normally expect. Katara, seeing the three of them come back, went over to them.

"What happened to you two?" she asked, seeing the boys' bruises.

"Toph," Zuko answered in a disgruntled tone. "The war balloon..." he sighed.

"Quit your whining, Sparky! I said that I would fix it!"

"I guess we're done for today. There's no point unless Toph wants to fly," Aang said.

"Like that's gonna happen!" Toph yelled from the floor.

Aang sighed. This was going to take a lot more work than he had thought.

-x-

Toph sat at the ledge of the crevice from which the Air Temple hung from, feeling the gentle blow of the night's breeze. Everyone was asleep, giving her a bit of peace. Or almost everyone, as she felt a pair of light steps approach her silently.

"You're afraid of flying yet you don't mind sitting at the ledge of a very high cliff?" Aang asked.

She shrugged. "At least I've got a bit of earth right next to me."

"Is flying really that bad?" he asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Of course it is!" she exclaimed. "Not only can I not see, I can't do anything but fall like a rock!"

"But you're an airbender now!"

"I told you Twinkle toes! I can't bend air like real airbenders!"

"So what?" Aang had actually stood up at this point. "So you can't bend air, that's just a tiny detail! Even if I did meet someone who could bend air, if that's all that person can do, I would still say that you're more of an airbender than that person."

He calmed himself down a bit, lowering his voice. "You're a real airbender now, one who knows and understands the principles of airbending. That's what's really important."

Toph bit her lip, not sure of what to say. True, what Aang had said was really encouraging, but it still wasn't enough to convince her to just jump off a cliff with nothing more than a stick with cloth for wings. "But... how can I fly if I can't bend air?"

"Well, maybe you won't be as maneuverable as those who can bend air, but you can still fly," Aang said smilingly. "Look at Teo! He can fly, and he didn't even get airbending training, so imagine how easy it will be for you!"

Toph still had her doubts. "And how about seeing?"

Aang answered quickly, as if he had been waiting for her to ask that. "I'll be your eyes in the air."

"Does that mean we'll be on the same glider?" she asked hopefully.

"No." His tone was flat and definite. "As an airbender, you have to learn to take to the skies on your own. But I promise I'll be right by your side."

Judging from the look on Toph's face, she was almost close to agreeing. It would just take one more little nudge.

"Tell you what," Aang said. He made an air current from his hand that reached out to Appa's saddle, pulling his staff to him, and held it out to her. "I'll let you use my glider. Airbenders usually use gliders that their masters make for them but since I can't make one right now, I'll let you use mine for now. I'll use Teo's in the meantime."

She carefully took Aang's glider from her airbending master, holding it with the tips of her fingers, almost as if she thought her touch could break it. She knew how important a glider was to an airbender. She remembered how terrified Aang had been whenever she used his old staff as a nutcracker, and how hard it was for him to let it go. "You'll really let me use your glider?"

"Whenever you wanna fly," he smiled.

"You know that I just might crash this thing into a wall and shatter it into a million pieces."

"Not with me looking out for you," he laughed. "Besides, I know that you'll fly great."

Toph smiled at how confident he was in her abilities. She gripped Aang's staff a bit tighter, feeling determination rush through her.

"Alright, I'll do it."

-x-

They now stood at one of the higher points of the Western Air Temple, the moon shining brightly on them. Toph stood at the ledge, in her hands was Aang's glider, already open and ready for flight. Aang stood next to her, holding Teo's glider.

"Ready?" Aang asked.

Toph gulped, feeling her stomach churn, but she nodded despite this.

"Alright. We both jump off at the same time. All you really need to think about is holding on. Let your airbender's spirit do the rest."

"Airbender's spirit?"

"Yeah, can't be an airbender without one. It's just something a person feels, and something that allows a person to fly."

"But what if I don't have it?" She was getting a bit hysterical, Aang noted.

"Of course you have it," Aang said soothingly. "I told you, you're a real airbender."

Reassured a bit, Toph held the glider properly, aligning it with her back, and stepped to the ledge.

"On your go," Aang said, waiting for her.

She tensed up, mentally preparing herself. All she had to do was shout 'go', jump, hold on, and let everything fall in to place. A few minutes passed, still mentally preparing, but she couldn't reach the point where she could say she was completely ready.

"Aang, I-I can't do it," she mumbled, her voice quivering. "I just can't! I want to, but I can't! I'm just too scared..."

Aang looked at her gently. It was natural to get scared, everyone did. But Toph had admitted it, not only to herself, but to him even. She really was more expressive of her feelings now, and he was proud of her for it.

He took a few steps until he was right next to her, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He thought she would be able to go by herself, but it was fine. He still had one more thing left up his sleeve though. Katara had actually given him the idea when he overheard her talking to Toph about teaching him, using 'a gentle nudge'. And that was what he gave Toph. A gentle nudge. Right over the ledge.

"TWINKLE TOES!"

Aang jumped down right after her. "Come on, Toph! Fly!"

Toph's mind was racing. She was falling like a rock and she knew it. The wind was rushing through her ears, the sound almost deafening. But she didn't know what to do. Aang had said that her airbender's spirit would take over but she couldn't feel anything. She would kill him if she could but the way things were going, she wouldn't have the chance.

"Loosen up Toph!"

As soon as he said it, she realized that all of her muscles were pulled tight, probably from fear. Trying as best as she could, she relaxed her muscles. The change was almost immediate. Now that it wasn't being held so tightly, the glider changed its angle from a nose dive, slowly evening out. Toph hardly realized it, but she automatically guided the glider, making it move more smoothly.

"Alright! That's the way to do it!" Aang cheered.

Now that she didn't feel like she was about to die, Toph could actually concentrate on the feeling of flying. There was only one word she could use to describe it: amazing. It just felt so free, so unrestricted. Not even gravity had a hold on her now. She could feel herself, her whole body flowing, almost like in training, but it felt even better. Not only was her own body flowing, she could also feel the flow of the wind and its currents. She could sense where the updrafts were, carrying her higher into the air, and streams of wind, making her go faster. She felt herself being carried by the wind, flowing with it, becoming one with it.

As she spent more time flying, she became more daring, circling in loops and spinning in twirls. She actually heard Aang telling her to take it easy. When she finally decided she had enough flying for the night, she called out to Aang.

"Twinkle toes! How do I land this thing?"

"Oh! Right! I can see where the others are sleeping from here, angle a bit to your left, Toph!"

She continued listening for Aang's instructions, guiding her to the place they would land.

"Okay, you're about to hit ground now so-" Unfortunately, Aang was unable to finish as Toph hit the ground sooner than expected. The angle she had been moving at toward the ground was a bit too steep, and as a result, she had slammed into the ground.

"Toph!"

Aang quickly jumped off his glider, and with a bit of airbending to cushion his fall, rushed immediately to Toph's side.

"Toph! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

She simply pushed him off, laughing. "Jeez Twinkle toes, I'm fine. You're acting just like Sugar Queen. That fall was nothing."

Aang wasn't sure what to think. Slamming into the ground at that speed wasn't exactly what he would call nothing. Then again, it was Toph they were talking about. All that mattered was she wasn't hurt.

Relief washing over him, he sat down next to her. "So, how was your first flight?"

"Not bad," she smiled. "I might try it again sometime."

"Zuko's not going to be happy though," he laughed. "You beat him up after almost ripping the war balloon apart, and then you just ride a glider anyway."

"That reminds me..." Aang shuddered, noticing the edge in her voice. "Did you just push me off the ledge up there?"

"Err, lesson's over! Gotta go!" He scrambled to his feet and, grabbing the nearest glider, took the sky.

"Don't think you can get away from me like that, Twinkle toes!" Holding onto Aang's glider firmly, she followed Aang into the open air, feeling herself flow with the wind once more.

* * *

A/N: Wow, long chapter. Took awhile to get this down. Had a lot of fun writing it though. I wonder if Toph is a bit off here... Anyway, I've finally started college, so I guess I won't be able to update as frequently as before. I'm sure I can sneak in a bit of writing every now and then though. Review please!


	6. Slight Changes

A/N: Finally got to post this. Being a college freshman is tough on a guy XP

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Slight Changes**

It was a quiet morning at the Western Air Temple. Most of the gang was sitting around the camp. Sokka was polishing his sword, Katara was getting breakfast ready, and Zuko was doing a few firebending drills. Aang was sitting in a meditative stance at a distance, and Toph... well, she wasn't anywhere around, which was Sokka's only real concern.

"Hey guys," Sokka said, looking up from his work. "Have you guys noticed that Toph's been acting a bit weird?"

Aang's ears perked up at the conversation, but remained unmoving as if he had heard nothing.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"I dunno, she's just been acting... weird." Sokka repeated, unable to find a better word.

"I think what your sister meant to ask was 'how is she acting weird'," Zuko said.

"Well, there was that time I found her 'meditating'," he said, complete with air quotes for emphasis. "Her temper isn't as bad as it usually is, and she's earthbending at me for fun only three times a day now."

"Maybe it's because Aang's teaching her airbending," Zuko suggested.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. So she really is taking lessons from Aang?" Katara asked.

"Pfft, yeah right," Sokka scoffed. "Like Toph would actually take lessons from Aang, and on airbending? Hah!" Quick, silent movement from behind Sokka made him jump, screaming girlishly. "Jeez Aang, you gave me a heart attack. I thought you were Toph. Oh, that too! She's got these weird quiet steps now as well," he said to the other two, adding it to his list of 'Toph's weird actions'.

"Anyway, Aang, tell these two that Toph wouldn't take lessons from you."

"Well, I guess she wouldn't, but she is," he said plainly.

It took the Water Tribe boy a moment to take in the information. "Then that proves my point! She _is _acting weird! She's even taking airbending lessons from Aang!"

"Calm down, Sokka," his sister said with a slightly reprimanding tone. "I don't see the problem."

"She's acting _weird!_" Sokka practically shouted. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"She's different," Zuko admitted, "but I don't think she's been acting weird. Things change when you learn something completely new."

"What he said," Aang agreed. "I used to be a total pushover but I've changed a bit ever since Toph taught me."

"See Sokka? You're just overreacting again."

Sokka huffed but conceded. "Fine, but it still feels weird."

"You want me to ask Toph to blast you through another wall to make you feel better?" Aang suggested.

"NO!"

-x-

Toph at the time was laying on her back from where she had jumped for her first flight. Or been pushed off to be more precise. She was doing her own version of meditation at the moment. It really wasn't her style to do things so formally, so instead of sitting properly as Aang had taught her to, she simply stretched out on the floor, laced her hands behind her head, and began meditating.

She wasn't really thinking of anything either. She was just absorbing everything around her, the sound of the gentle breeze blowing, the smell of the dusty air in the temple, the feel of the sun's warm glow. All of this put her in a sort of trance, relaxing her. She liked the feeling.

"What are you doing?" Aang suddenly dropped next to her, folding his glider.

"Quiet, I'm meditating..."

Aang smiled and joined Toph, folding his limbs into a meditative position. He didn't mind the fact that she had altered his teachings at all. In fact, he was quite happy that she had changed it into a way that better suited herself while still retaining what was important. It definitely wasn't a good thing to force yourself into something that wouldn't work for you.

After a few minutes of peaceful silence passed between them, Aang spoke up. "Sokka was saying something about you earlier."

Toph remained silent, still in her meditative state. She was paying attention to Aang though.

"He's saying you've changed, acting a bit weird."

Toph got up slowly, sitting straight. "So? Do I care if he thinks I've changed?"

"Yeah, I guess not," Aang laughed.

Another moment of silence passed between them. "Hey, Twinkle toes."

"Hmm?"

"I want a rematch."

Aang groaned. "Do we have to? Let's just say I got lucky last time and you win. No more problem."

She smirked, got up, and started pulling him by the collar. "I said I want a rematch, and I am gonna get it."

Aang sighed, letting himself get dragged away by Toph. This was going to be painful.

Aang and Toph stood facing each other in one of the many halls of the Western Air Temple, standing a few feet apart.

"Alright, usual rules," Toph said. "Earthbending only. Fight until the other gives up or can't fight back."

"Okay, I-"

"I'll decide if you're really giving up Twinkle toes," she cut in. "And you had better fight me seriously."

The young monk groaned. There really was no other way out of it. "Alright," he finally agreed.

"And the loser needs to do one thing the winner says," she added.

"One thing?" The request seemed a bit strange to him. If she would ever make the loser do anything, she would probably say something like loser becomes her slave or something. But it seemed she already had something in mind, and that something was enough for her. He was quite curious to know what it was.

"Yep, just one."

"And yours is?" She blushed at his question, getting him even more curious.

"You'll find out when I win," she said gruffly, trying to hide her embarassment. She got into an earthbending stance, waiting for him.

"Fair enough," he laughed, mimicking her stance.

As usual, Toph was the one who made the first move. She stomped on the ground firmly, making a chunk of stone jump out, and thrusting both of her fists forward, made it rocket towards him.

Aang, being the airbender that he is, spun on his heel, effectively evading Toph's attack. But when he turned to face his opponent once more, he found another boulder headed his way already. A little surprised at how fast she had followed up on her first attack, he didn't have any time to dodge and had no choice but to shatter the projectile with his own fist.

As Toph continued to launch boulders of increasing size at Aang, he watched her. She was applying what he had taught her, flowing of movement, in her earthbending movements. It definitely made her faster, and not only that, it gave more power to her attacks as well. He was also unable to dodge most of her attacks, having to resort to breaking the stones. Now that she herself knew how to move like an airbender, she was a lot more sensitive to his movements.

Seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere, she stomped on the ground firmly, kicking up a dust storm. Aang wasn't quite sure about what she was trying to do. She of all people should know that eyes aren't the only way to see. Just as he was about to close his eyes to focus on her vibrations, he saw that the dust was clumping together, forming fist-sized stones. He was only just able to get an earth shield up before he was pelted by stones from all directions.

"That was new," he muttered, lowering his earthen shield.

Stopping her barrage of earthen missiles, Toph sprang forward quickly, much faster than plain running. Aang caught a glimpse of the earth jutting out from under her feet, which was propelling her faster. The movement of the stone was small, at least for regular earthbending. So small that it was almost unnoticeable. He knew that if she had tried that move before, it would be a more obvious, leaving a lot more than slightly cracked floor. She was definitely trying to eliminate as much needless earthbending as she could, conserving her energy.

She jumped and skidded over the floor on her bare feet, using the motion to have a blunt spike emerge right at Aang's feet. He was only just able to dodge it. When he faced her once more, she was in an airbending stance.

"You know Twinkle toes, you're gonna have to hit back if you wanna win," she said, a smirk forming on her face.

"You're not exactly giving me a chance to."

"Then come on," she challenged. She began moving, her steps crisscrossing. "Let's see you try and get me."

Successfully lured in by her taunting, Aang proceeded to launch his own barrage of boulders at her. However, all of his attacks didn't seem to have any effect at all. Whether she dodged or broke through his attacks, he couldn't even break her motion of circling around him.

Just as he was fed up and about to try fighting up close, he realized he couldn't move his feet. Looking down, he saw that the area of floor Toph had been circling now had the consistency of sand, and this sand would only allow him to sink into it. Try as hard as he could, he couldn't pull his feet out. Before he could do anything about it he had already sunk to his shoulders.

Despite his position, Aang was impressed. True, regular earthbenders had the ability to change the solid stone into sand, but she had done it so subtly, by distracting him and using the movement from her circling motion. Not only that, to change stone to sand usually required direct contact, but she was able to do it by connecting to the earth using her motion, to get the sand to move more.

He was also impressed with how she fought as a whole. She used strategy much more than she used to, and was a lot more creative in how she used her earthbending now. She was also able to find a way to effectively apply airbending principles to her earthbending.

"So, give up?" Toph asked, squatting in front of what there was left of Aang above ground.

"Not yet." Using his head motions to earthbend, he pushed himself out of the ground and before Toph could react, buried her up to her neck in stone.

"Hey! Where'd you learn to do that?"

"My friend Bumi did it once," Aang explained, rubbing his neck. That move had strained him quite a bit, especially since it was his first time trying it. "He could earthbend quite well even though his face was the only thing he could move."

He squatted in front of her, just like she had done a moment ago. "So, give up?"

The grunts and strains on her face told him that she was trying to do what he did. Unfortunately, Aang had made sure that he had buried her deep enough so that she couldn't move any part of her body at all.

After nearly half an hour of struggling, she finally conceded. "Fine, I give up..."

Aang smiled and responded with a hard stomp, pushing Toph out of the ground.

"I'm gonna go meditate," she said. "I just might beat up Snoozles because of the mood I'm in." She made a motion to move away but Aang stopped her.

"What about my request?"

Toph was clearly not in the mood, but she supposed that she had to at least listen. Sighing, she turned to him. "Alright, waddaya want?"

"I want to know what you were going to ask me to do if you won," he answered, his tone serious.

Her face flushed a deep red, and she immediately turned her head away, crossing her arms. "What does it matter?" she huffed. "You won anyway."

"I still want to know."

She sighed again, knowing that he would just nag it out of her in the end. "Fine. I... I was... gonna ask you to teach me waterbending..." she mumbled almost inaudibly.

Aang raised his eyebrows at her. "Really?"

"Yes, really," she answered dully. "Can I go now?"

"Not yet," he said, smirking. "Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem enough that you just told me what you were going to ask me to do..."

Toph glared at him, her message of 'don't even think about it' quite clear.

"So, I have another request..."

She gritted her teeth, trying to keep calm and not murder the so called 'world's only hope'.

"I want you to let me teach you waterbending," he said, smiling.

Toph's murderous aura disappeared immediately. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Honestly, you could've just asked me. That way we could have avoided the whole fight."

She smirked at him, giving him a painful punch. "I told you, I wanted a rematch. And I figure if I got this close to beating you just by learning airbending, you won't stand a chance against me when I learn waterbending."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I was thinking of teaching you waterbending sooner or later. You've practically mastered airbending now."

Toph remained silent a moment, pondering something. "Aang, do you think I've changed?"

What she said caught him a bit off guard, not only was she asking such a question, she had actually used his name this time. "If you ask me, I don't think you've changed. It's just that you're a different you."

"Isn't that the same?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No. When Sokka said you've changed, he meant that you weren't acting like yourself. I think you're still acting like yourself, but you're acting a side that me and the others aren't used to. But I think it's great! I think this means that you're learning more about yourself, and even we get to see this side of you!"

She smiled at how enthusiastic he was being over such a simple thing. "Let's go, Twinkle toes. I can smell lunch already."

As they started walking back, Aang asked her, "Toph, now that you've pretty much mastered airbending, you want me to give you your tattoos now?"

"What? No way you're tattooing my skin with stupid girly arrows!" She ran off, but not without giving him a playful shove first.

"They are not girly!" he argued, as he chased after her. He smiled though. Toph would always be Toph, no matter what he taught her or what he did, whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

A/N: Hmm, not particularly fond of this chapter. It was a pain thinking of airbending-style earthbending and even harder to write. Still, I think it came out alright in general. Can't wait to get started on Toph's waterbending lessons! Review please!


	7. Feel the Flow

A/N: First waterbending lesson! I've just been waiting to write and post this one XP

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Feel the Flow**

It was early in the morning, the sun's rays just breaking beyond the horizon. Two pairs of foosteps echoed through the stone halls of the Air Temple, one airily light, the other firm and a bit loud.

"Why are we going this way?" Toph asked. "I thought that since we're doing waterbending, we would go to the fountain."

"Ordinarily, yes, I would take a waterbending student to the fountain," Aang answered. "But we're going to the main hall, since you're not exactly an ordinary waterbending student."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Depends on how you look at it," he responded, humor in his voice.

"What are we gonna do anyway?"

"Ah, about that. You see, in waterben-" Another pair of echoing footsteps interrupted him, and they both turned to see Katara trying to catch up with them.

"Aang, Zuko's been looking for you," she said.

"But I was going to-"

"He said that if you're not at the usual training site before the sun's completely up, you're going to do hot squats for the whole of today."

Aang sighed in defeat. Zuko meant business this time.

"Don't sweat it, Twinkle toes," Toph said. "Let's just start waterbending tomorrow."

Katara perked up at what she had said. "Oh? Toph wants to learn waterbending?"

"Yeah, I was going to start teaching her today," Aang explained, completely oblivious of the warning signals Toph was giving him.

"Then why don't I teach her? After all, I am the waterbending master in our group," she said, pride quite clear in her voice.

"The thing is Sugar Quee-"

"Yeah! That's not a bad idea!"

It took all of Toph's concentration to stop herself from burying Aang in a rockalanche. She had a general idea on how Katara taught Aang, and she was quite sure that it wouldn't be an enjoyable exprience, at least not for her.

"Great! You should get going Aang. You only have a few seconds by the looks of it," Katara said, looking at the sun peeking over the horizon.

"Alright, I'll check up on you later Toph!"

"Wait! Twinkle to-" It was too late. He ran off, waving goodbye over his shoulder.

"C'mon, Toph," Katara said eagerly. "Let's go to the fountain."

Toph groaned. "This is gonna take a while," she mumbled to herself.

-x-

The two girls stood beside the fountain, one eager, the other not so much. It isn't really hard to guess who was which.

"Okay, we're here," Toph said lazily. "Now what?"

"First, let's start on the origin of waterbending. The first waterbenders learned from watching the moon, observing how it pushed and pulled the tides in and out. This continued to..."

Toph wasn't really listening at all. True, she had said before that it was better to learn from the source itself like what she had done, but Katara was going through all the famous waterbending masters and their contributions to the art. That part she could live without.

"So, as you know now from what I've said, the most basic waterbending motion is the push and pull."

"Yeah, push and pull..." she repeated dully.

"Since waterbending focuses on shifting between offence and defense, using the opponent's force against him or her, we have to master feeling these forces and energies to act accordingly. To help you with that, we're going to do a basic exercise. You should have a much easier time because I would think that airbending training has made you a lot more flexible. "

She motioned Toph to come over next to the circular fountain. "I've made the water in this fountain spin around in circles. What you're going to do is keep it flowing with your own hands. I want you to put your hand in and push the water, keeping the speed of the water constant."

Toph unenthusiastically complied. She inserted her hands into the cool water and pushed it along. Unfortunately, Katara's attitude wasn't helping at all.

"Toph, you should move with the water to do this better."

"You have to feel how fast and strong the water is moving, Toph."

"You're using too much of your own strength. Do it like this."

"You just have to redirect the water, Toph. You shouldn't fight it's flow."

Her patience was maddening. Toph couldn't understand how someone could be so calm with her. Of course, this should usually be a good thing but it put Toph on edge how she was way too patient. She would have preferred a lesson where the subject was beaten into her, like what Aang had done most of the time. Plus, the exercise was boring.

She was just about to give up and walk out on Katara when she felt a gust of wind and heard a swooshing sound. "Hey guys!"

"Hi Aang," Katara greeted. "Zuko let you go already?"

"I guess. He suddenly kicked me out shouting to finish what I have to do before going to training. How's waterbending?"

"It's going okay," she answered. "Toph's still on the basic exercise, but I think she's starting to get it." Aang looked over Katara's shoulder and saw that Toph was making a gagging motion behind her back. He got the message.

"Hey Katara, why don't you take a break? I can watch over Toph for a bit," he offered.

"Hmm, I don't know... I mean we're already doing quite well..."

"No, it's really okay, Sugar Queen," Toph said, a bit too quickly. "Twinkle toes can handle me for now."

"Well, okay... just call if you need any help."

Aang and Toph both waved goodbye to Katara, grinning broadly and arm slung over the other's shoulder. As soon as she disappeared from their view, Toph wiped the grin off her face and punched Aang hard on the shoulder, wiping his grin off as well.

"Ow! What was that for? I just helped you didn't I?"

"It was your fault I got stuck training with her in the first place!" she yelled.

"Okay, okay. So I'm guessing training's not going so good?"

"It's boring the heck out of me," she complained, crossing her arms. "And I don't even think I'm learning anything! All I know is that I'm just pushing the water."

Aang laughed. "I thought so." He looked around the area with a critical eye. "I guess this place is good enough."

"Good enough for what?"

"My lesson for you," he answered with a smile. "But first, Katara gave you a lecture before you started right? What do you know about waterbending so far?"

"That waterbending came from watching the moon and some stuff about dead guys from long ago."

"Yeah, what else?"

"Waterbending works by shifting offence to defense and vice versa or something. That we have to be able to feel the forces and energies to do it."

"Good, you've pretty much got it," he said, nodding. "Like you know, a waterbender needs to be very sensitive to the forces acting on and around him. And there is one very simple way to learn this."

"And that way is?"

"Dancing," Aang answered, a wide grin on his face.

-x-

"I am seriously gonna kill you." She was standing with her arms crossed, back toward him. She definitely wasn't enthusiastic about the idea of dancing.

"Oh come on, that's like the third time you've threatened to take my life this week and you still haven't done anything. Quit being such a baby and come here."

Toph growled at him but nevertheless, stepped forward until she was right in front of him. He took her right hand in his left and held it a bit extended.

"Now put your other hand on my shoulder," he instructed.

"WHAT?"

"Just do it."

"I don't think I have to," she said, huffing.

"Come on, Toph!" he pleaded. "I mean, since we're using dancing to learn waterbending, you might as well learn how to dance properly!"

"I know how to dance!"

"The hog-monkey dance Sokka taught you doesn't count. Come on already!"

Grumbling, she reluctantly complied, and Aang put his other hand on her waist. She blushed at the contact. She really wasn't a touchy-feely kind of person, so having such close proximity with someone embarrassed her quite a bit. Fortunately, Aang's laughter interrupted her feeling of embarrassment.

"What are you laughing at?" Her voice was a menacing growl, very scary.

"You," he answered simply, smiling broadly. "I've never seen your face so red!"

"Just shut up, Twinkle toes. Why the heck do you have to embarrass me in practically all your lessons?"

"Aw, but it's fun seeing you so embarrassed," he said, laughing. "Anyway, I don't see anything particularly embarrassing about dancing. We're just two friends, performing the art of fancy footwork! It's not like I'm trying to seduce you or anything," he joked.

"Whatever." Her 'I-don't-care' tone was betrayed by her red face. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright! It's a shame we don't have any music but I guess it can't be helped. Anyway, I'm not going to teach you any dancing movements. I'm just going to start moving."

"How the heck am I supposed to dance with you if you don't teach me how?" Aang winced at the volume of her voice.

"We're practicing feeling forces, remember? I want you to feel my movements and move accordingly. For example..." He quickly took a step forward toward her, and she managed to stumble back to make space. "Like that. I made a movement, and you reacted accordingly."

Toph nodded, understanding. This lesson was a lot more clear for her than Katara's water pushing exercise. Aang proceeded to take three steps back and she in turn took three steps toward him, their steps fitting like pieces of a puzzle.

He suddenly spun to his right, startling Toph. They only just managed avoiding tumbling and becoming a tangle of limbs as she stumbled into the proper position.

"C'mon, Toph. I know I taught you to be more graceful than that," Aang said, laughing.

"Don't use my name with graceful, Twinkle toes. It doesn't sound right. And do you think you could slow down a bit? It's already hard enough to keep up with you."

"What, you want me to take it easy on you? I guess I could if this is too tough," he teased.

"There you go again, you use that almost every time you teach me."

"It's working isn't it?"

Toph smirked in response. "Pick up the pace, Twinkle toes. I'll show you what I can do."

He didn't hesitate to comply. He quickly took a number of steps to his left and then twisted to the right, letting go of her and stepping to her left side. He took a number of steps the right, which Toph mimicked. He smiled at the fact that she was able to keep up, and not only that, she matched each of his steps almost perfectly, as if they had rehearsed it. And as they went on, she seemed to be doing it more and more unconsciously, sensing each of his movements and moving to match or accomodate it.

Toph felt a bit strange. The way she was moving, it was foreign to her. She was usually always in control, moving how she wanted. But right now, it was like she was just there, watching herself move. She was just reacting to whatever movements Aang made.

"Come on, Toph. I know you can do more than that. Sway your hips a little," he laughed.

She growled at him. "I'll only go along as much as I need to, Twinkle toes. Toph Bei Fong does not sway her hips."

Aang started slowing his pace, moving back to their original position. "Alright, you've pretty much gotten how to move with the forces acting on you anyway. Now, we're going to do things a bit differently. I'm going to make a move, and then I want you to move in a way you want to."

Toph smirked. Finally, a bit of control. He took a step toward her, and she automatically took a step back. Deciding to move toward him, she took a step forward. However, something felt a bit off as she changed Aang's direction.

"Did you feel that?" he asked. Toph nodded in response. "Waterbending works by redirecting forces, so you can't decide on just any movement. It has to be a move that accomodates that force and works it around. The best way to be able move as freely as possible is to know how to receive that force in a way that makes it easy for you to move the way you want to. Here, try it again."

He once again took a step toward her, but instead of simply stepping back, she angled a bit to her left, and redirecting Aang's forward step, pulled him in, turning him, and then took a step toward him. It definitely felt different from earlier, much more fluid.

"Better," he said, smiling. "Very graceful."

Ignoring the comment, Toph continued with the exercise. They took turns taking the lead, moving to fit into each other's move and yet still move how they want to.

Taking the lead, Aang loosened the hand that was holding Toph's. Feeling it, she let go and they both stepped outward. Aang slipped his hand away from her waist and caught the hand that used to be on his shoulder, stretching their free hands in opposite directions. Smirking, Toph pulled him in. Moving along with her, he spun toward her, but was surprised when she let go of his hand, catching his back, and finally, dipped him.

"Hey! I'm the guy! I'm supposed to dip you!" He was smiling though. He had to admit that the situation was quite hilarious.

"Please, you're not man enough for that, Twinkle toes," she teased.

A new voice suddenly spoke up. "Well, don't you two look cute."

Toph quickly let go of Aang, letting him drop to the floor, and jumped away a decent distance, her face flushed. Aang propped himself up on his elbows and saw Katara standing at the doorway.

"You know, if you two wanted to be alone, you should have just said so," she teased, a devilish smirk on her face.

"I-It's not what you think, Sugar Queen!" Toph said, flailing her arms.

"Why? What is she thinking?" Aang asked, completely oblivious.

"Riiiight. I'll just leave you two to your _training_." Having said her piece, Katara left again, still wearing that evil smirk.

"Wait! Sugar Queen! I'm telling you, it's not what it looks like!" Toph ran after the waterbender, her face still burning bright red.

Aang was left alone, sitting on the floor, a confused expression on his face.

"Am I missing something?"

* * *

A/N: Love this lesson, just because it gave me a chance to embarrass Toph. Definitely a fun thing to do. And yeah, I couldn't help but sneak in a little Taang. This is still a friendship fic though.

I actually got this idea back when I was still writing airbending lessons. I remembered what my sensei told me that learning how to 'cha-cha', or just dancing would help learn aikido a lot easier. This was originally supposed to be the lesson to teach Toph to move more fluidly but I thought it fit waterbending more since aikido is also about redirecting forces. The dance was more tango than cha-cha though. I'm more familiar with tango, and I've seen how cha-cha goes, it's hard to see Aang and Toph go like that, much less write it. Anyway, review please!


	8. Building Momentum

A/N: Finally updated! Man, feels like it's been too long...

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Building Momentum**

It was the middle of the day. It was generally quiet, most of the animals having taken shelter from the hottest part of the day. Sharing in that silence was Aang, who was flumped on the Western Air Temple's dusty floor. He was sprawled on his back, his eyebrows knit together in deep concentration. He had been meditating, but now he just had a headache. Thinking too hard did that to him.

"Oh!"

He suddenly sprang up into a sitting position, his eyes wide, showing the sudden strike of inspiration. He quickly jumped up to his feet and ran with an airbender's speed toward camp calling at the top of his lungs.

"TOOOOOOPH!"

-x-

"Do you guys hear something?"

Sokka looked up at the firebender's question. He cocked his head to the side, trying to see if ears could pick up any trace of sound. "No, why?"

Toph, who was sitting with them, did hear something. In fact she knew what it was. As casually yet quickly as she could, she got up and walked toward the doorway. Unfortunately, she sorely underestimated Aang's speed as he managed to enter the hall before she left it.

"Toph! It's time for-" He was unable to finish his sentence as a large pillar erupted from the ground in front of his path, and with a loud crash, slammed into it. The scene managed to get raised eyebrows from both Sokka and Zuko, but deciding that any situation that included a violent Toph was not a situation to get involved in, the two ignored the pair of twelve year olds. A very smart move on their part.

Toph quickly moved to his side before he could recover from the hit. "Are you crazy, Twinkle toes?" she snarled into his ear. "I told you! Don't shout about waterbending lessons and don't come to get me for them!"

Aang rubbed his sore... well, everything before looking at his airbending/waterbending student. "Yeah, remind me again why I have to do that?"

"I told you, if Sugar Queen finds out-"

"If Sugar Queen finds out what?" She froze as she heard the waterbender's voice speak up from behind her.

She turned around, trying to smile as naturally as she could. "Hey, Sugar Queen. I was just saying to Twinkle toes here that if you find out that we were... uh, going to look for food, we wouldn't be able to surprise you by getting dinner ready tonight." She mentally slapped herself. _What kind of excuse was that?_

"Oh, is that so?" The smirk on Katara's face said that she wasn't buying it, and was simply playing along. Who would believe that excuse anyway? "I'm very grateful then. I won't have to make dinner for once."

Toph inwardly groaned. _Great, now me and Twinkle toes have to make dinner_.

"Well, you two had better get going," Katara said. "I'm sure that you two have _a lot _to do together." She gave a sly wink and walked away.

"I told you, Sugar Queen! It wasn't what it looked like!" Katara continued walking away, waving a dismissive hand over her shoulder.

Toph growled at the waterbender but miraculously decided not to earthbend at her. She grabbed Aang's collar and dragged him away, leaving the hall.

-x-

"So, tell me again why I can't just call you for waterbending lessons?"

Toph sighed. She had already explained this before. "Because if she found at I was continuing waterbending, she would tag along again and I definitely don't want another training session with her."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why I can't get you for those lessons."

"It's because Sugar Queen has some stupid notion that we're doing something else during training."

"And that something else is?"

Toph growled at him. "You know what? Just shut up, Twinkle toes."

Aang cocked his head to the side in confusion, but shrugged it off. They continued walking, entering another of the temple's halls.

"And? What are we going to do today?"

"We're going to push rocks," he answered, smiling broadly.

Unable to help herself, she reared a fist back and punched Aang on the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being stupid. I can already do that, Twinkle toes."

Aang simply smiled. "You'll see what I mean."

Aang took her to the far side of the hall. He gave the stone floor a firm stomp, getting a boulder slightly bigger than himself to jump out.

"You're going to hurl a hundred of these boulders to the far end of the hall."

"A hundred? Too easy," she scoffed. Aang could only grin at her confidence.

"We'll see how easy it is. Get started. I'll ready the next boulder."

Toph took an earthbending stance next to the the huge chunk of stone. Thrusting both of her fists forward, along with a loud war cry, she launched the boulder the whole hundred yards toward the end of the hall, where it embedded itself in the wall.

"See? Easy," she said, a confident smirk on her face.

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep going." She missed the knowing smile on his face.

She continued with the exercise, breezing through the first twenty boulders. By the time she had reached thirty, she had started slowing down. At forty, she was already panting heavily.

Aang came over with another boulder. "Getting tired?"

"No!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "If you're tired, you can take a five minute break. No longer than that though."

She didn't need to be told twice. She let herself fall to the floor, trying to take in slow deep breaths, giving her muscles a much needed break.

"You're not gonna be able to finish if you keep going like that," he said, crouching next to her.

"I said I would finish it and I'm gonna." She might be a lot more honest but she was definitely still stubborn.

Aang smiled. "I know you will. But you have to remember that this isn't just earthbending. This is a waterbending exercise." He got up to his feet. "Start as soon as your break is up." He walked away, leaving Toph in her thoughts.

"Waterbending, huh?" she mumbled. Aang had a point. Since the beginning, she had treated the exercise as purely earthbending. He said it was supposed to be for waterbending, and she never doubted the fact that all his lessons always had a point, no matter how ridiculous the lesson was. She knew he really wanted to teach her to the best of his abilities.

But try as hard as she could, she couldn't find any waterbending in the whole exercise. She supposed that what she was supposed to learn should help her complete the task she was assigned to do, but honestly speaking, she was earthbending! Where was she supposed to look for waterbending?

"What the heck am I supposed to do?" she yelled in frustration.

"How about stop demolishing the Air Temple?" Zuko walked into the hall she was training in, observing the damage she had done hurling so many boulders.

"Quiet, Sparky. I'm training." Realizing that her break was up, she staggered back to her feet. Since she hadn't figured anything out, she had no choice but to continue as she had been doing before. Taking an earthbending stance, she launched a boulder toward the end of the hall, barely missing Zuko.

"Hey! Watch it!" Toph ignored him and continued to send another boulder across the hall. "Don't you think you're gonna wear yourself out?"

"I know, but how else am I supposed to do this?" she asked, launching another boulder.

"You're the earthbending master. You tell me."

Irritated, she started redirecting the boulder she had thrown toward Zuko. As soon as she did, she started feeling something. She was barely applying any force to the boulder but it was building up energy, building momentum.

She remembered what Aang had taught her, that waterbending was basically manipulation of forces. She hadn't seen this in the exercise because there was no force acting on her to act on. But now she realized that she could apply this not only to forces in the environment, but her own force as well. She also realized that the manipulation had other uses than just changing a force's direction. It could also be used to slowly build up the energy and force, without much effort at all.

She was so absorbed in her own realization that she didn't notice that she had actually hit Zuko. She had only meant to scare him off, but the boulder had caught him dead on, knocking him to the far end of the hall.

"Hey Zuko," Aang greeted, returning to the hall. He watch the former crown prince try and remove the rubble that had piled up on top of him. "Need any help?"

Zuko grunted an assent and he proceeded to push of some of the debris. Just as Zuko was able to crawl out, another boulder came rocketing in their general direction, just as fast as the first ones she threw. Grumbling about dangerous blind earthbenders, the firebender left the scene. Aang, on the other hand, looked to his waterbending student and smiled. It seemed she had already gotten it.

Toph was preparing to launch another boulder. She started as she did before, in her earthbending stance. She thrust both of her fists forward, but with less power, getting the chunk of stone to jump forward a bit. Turning on her heel, she brought the stone into a circular path around her using its initial jump, slowly increasing in momentum. After a few rotations, Toph let go of the boulder, letting it rocket out of the path it had been kept in toward the end of the hall.

It didn't take long for her to reach the hundred mark. When she was done, Aang approached her with a smile on his face.

"I told you I would finish, Twinkle toes," she said proudly.

"I never said you wouldn't. I'm guessing you got the lesson already?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you."

"You have to learn on your own sometime," he answered. Toph turned away, pretending to huff, but in truth to hide her smile. The way Aang was teaching her, giving her enough information to understand but only just enough so that she could learn on her own, she really appreciated it.

"You didn't like the lesson?" He sounded quite disappointed. Though it wasn't exactly apparent in most of his lessons, he really wanted Toph to enjoy her lessons with him, and her smile grew, knowing this.

"Nah, it wasn't so bad," she said, smiling at him. "I got to earthbend, and I got a pretty good workout from this."

She could feel him smile, his spirits lightening. "So, now what?" she asked.

"Now, we start on your next lesson: cooking. You did promise Katara we would get dinner ready."

"I never said the word promise," she scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Come on," Aang laughed. "I'll teach you how to make our famous fruit pies. I found some ingredients earlier." He took Toph's hand in his, dragging her away against her will. She was smiling though. Cooking definitely wasn't something she considered her thing, but she'll reconsider, just because Aang's the one teaching.

* * *

A/N: Hm, not really fond of this chapter. I kinda had to really pull this one out of my head, and I dunno, something feels a bit off. The lesson's kinda plain I guess. Sorry it took a while to update, I don't have that much time during weekdays to write. Anyway, review please!


	9. Ballistic Force

A/N: Can't believe how long it's taking me now to update this thing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the characters

* * *

**Ballistic Force**

Toph was sitting on the rim of the circular fountain, soaking her feet in the cool water. She was once again immeresed in her own style of meditation, absorbing everything around her. And in the next hall, she could feel the rumbling of quite a few stomachs.

Hearing a pair of footsteps approach, she turned toward the newcomer. "How are they doing?" she asked. There was a hint of humor in her voice.

"They'll be fine in a while, I guess." Toph couldn't hold it in anymore, and burst out laughing. "Would you stop already?"

"Haha! Sorry Twinkle toes, but to think they'd get upset stomachs over the fruit pie you made?" She clutched her sides, laughing out loud again.

-x-

_"Dinner's ready!"_

_Katara, Sokka, and Zuko all looked up and saw the two youngest members of the gang come into the hall. The delicious aroma of freshly baked pastry wafted around, getting stomachs, particularly Sokka's, rumbling._

_"Alright! Food!" Sokka sprang up to his feet. He stopped short at the sight of the pies. "Aw, no meat? And what happened to that?" He completely missed Toph's growl, and looked at the pie in Toph's hands. Compared to what Aang was carrying, which had the perfect shape of a pie and and a nice shiny glaze on the crust, hers looked, well, terrible. The crust was uneven, burnt a bit, and even crushed in some places. The fruit filling spilled out from the small gaps in the crust._

_"It looks... fine! Right, Zuko?" Katara said, when she caught sight of her pie._

_"Are you kidding? It looks like it was stomped by- gah! I mean yes! It looks great!" Zuko winced. He was going to get Katara for stepping on his toes._

_"You guys can say what you want but I won't eat that! I'm sharing with Aang."_

_"Sokka!" Katara's tone was reprimanding, but there was also a bit of something else. Maybe she realized that there had to be someone who had to share Toph's pie, or else there wouldn't be enough to go around. And despite what she said, she honestly didn't want to get stuck with what Toph had made._

_"You guys can share my pie," Aang offered. "I'll share with Toph."_

_"Really? Are you sure?" Katara asked. She had meant to sound concerned but it came out as hopeful._

_"I'm sure." The others didn't notice Toph's smirk and Aang's sigh of relief._

_-x-  
_

"I didn't think it was that bad..." Aang mumbled.

"Then something must be wrong with your tounge," she teased.

"I don't get it! And yours tasted so great! Didn't you say it was your first time cooking?"

"Yep." She smiled at the knowledge that Aang had enjoyed her pie. Though she had once told Katara that she didn't care about what other people said, it was actually nice to know every now and then. She was actually surprised that her own pie was quite good, as Sokka had the thoughtfullness to describe the flaws before they had started eating.

"Hmph, beginner's luck..."

It took all of her concentration not to laugh at Aang again. He was just so childish sometimes. But if that was all he was, she doubted that he could have taught her so well.

"That, and I have a good teacher." He smiled at what she said. Maybe he'll let this go. After all, it was a nice surprise that Toph was actually talented in the kitchen.

"Anyway, at least now we didn't have to sneak around Katara for today's lesson. You ready to start?"

"You know you don't have to ask," she answered, smirking.

"It's just a formality," he said, smiling.

"Please, we're anything but formal." Aang laughed. She had a point.

"Anyway, we're going to move rocks today."

"Again?" The unenthsiastic tone was clear.

"We're going to do things a bit differently though."

"How so?"

"Hm, it would be better to demonstrate. I want you to punch me." Toph didn't hesitate to comply and socked him on the arm.

"Ow!"

"If that's the lesson, I mastered it a long time ago," she said plainly.

"You were supposed to wait for me to get ready! I didn't think you would be so ready to punch me..." Aang got into a waterbending stance. "Alright, _now_ I'm ready."

Toph reared back her fist but as soon as she swung it forward, Aang rushed forward and caught her hand in his.

"Hey!"

"I wasn't exactly just gonna let you punch me twice in a row," he answered, smiling.

"Whatever. You were only able to stop it because I hadn't gotten to full swing yet," she huffed.

"Wow, you got it already." Toph raised an eyebrow at him. "I was only able to stop you because it took you too long to release all the energy in the punch. Since waterbending relies on manipulating forces, it also becomes necessary to know how to release that force in a ballistic pulse."

Toph cocked her head to the side, confusion clear on her face. "Um, Twinkle toes, this doesn't exactly sound waterbender-ish."

"Yeah, I thought so too," he laughed. "But it still is necessary. You know how Zuko can redirect lightning, and that techinique is waterbending, right?" Toph nodded. "What do you think would happen if he didn't release that energy right away, all at once?"

"Sparky would get fried," she said simply.

"Right, it can be dangerous to hold so much energy at a time, something waterbenders are frequently exposed to. Not only that, waterbenders are also quite vulnerable after releasing energy, so it's best to let it go all at once. It gives an extra kick too, making it harder for your opponent to block."

Toph nodded, underestanding to some extent. It still felt weird to her though, a waterbender using something Aang referred to as 'ballistic force'. She shrugged it off though. She was used to the weird feeling she often got when learning about other bending.

"Alright, now that we've got the lecture down, let's move on to the exercise."

He gave the ground a firm stomp, getting a decent sized boulder to jump out of the stone floor. He stood in front of it and stretched out his hand, his open palm hovering only an inch above the boulder's surface. Moving swiftly, his palm closed the small distance and made contact with the boulder. But instead of the small jump Toph expected, the boulder rocketed away, skidding across the Air Temple's tiled floor a full thirty feet.

Toph couldn't help herself. "Woah."

He smiled at her. "Your turn. Try to get to my boulder."

Aang pulled out another boulder from the ground and Toph stepped up, eager to try. Mimicking him, she held her hand just over the boulder. Thrusting as hard as she could and giving a loud war cry, her open palm collided with the chunk of rock. Unfortunately, the rock only budged a couple of inches.

To put it simply, she was quite frustrated. All she had to show for all that effort was a couple of inches. Aang was already making choking sounds, trying to hold back his laughter. He managed to control himself with a little help from Toph, who gave him a threatening glare as she once again stepped up to the boulder, attempting the exercise once more.

Again and again, Toph pushed the boulder as hard as she could using the little space she was allowed and the boulder moved across the hall a few inches at a time, again and again. She was already next to Aang's boulder, and she still had no progress with the exercise.

"You know, when I said to get to my boulder, I meant in one go," Aang called out. Toph spared him another of her murderous glares, warning him. He didn't budge though. He was too used to that glare already. "You're forgetting again," he said, laying back on the stone floor.

Toph raised an eyebrow at what he said. Forgetting again? A scene suddenly flashed in her head.

_"But you have to remember that this isn't just earthbending. It's a waterbending exercise."_

Was she treating the exercise as earthbending again? She thought back on all of her efforts on the exercise. The answer was yes, she was relying on brute force again. But she was once again stuck on how to apply waterbending principles.

She sat down, and just like Aang had taught her before, folded her limbs in a meditative position, her brows furrowed in thought. She wasn't particularly fond of this form of meditation but supposed she needed to concentrate for this. Aang smiled at the sight of Toph actually thinking hard about something. He never doubted it, but this truly proved that she was serious about learning.

Toph was recalling everything Aang had taught her about waterbending. It was the manipulation of forces, basic moves are push and pull, knowledge on how to react to forces in the environment, how to build momentum. She groaned inwardly. She still didn't get it.

She tried to remember how when Aang had done the exercise. She captured his movements in her head, replaying them. She couldn't understand how he could have knocked that boulder so far away. His movements were just too gentle, too gentle to have built up enough energy to move the boulder even a few feet. How could he have gathered enough energy to move it so far?

She thought harder, scrunching her eyebrows together in concentration. There had to be some kind of trick, and Aang must have slipped in a hint somewhere.

Why couldn't she do it? She knew it was because she couldn't build up enough energy to move the boulder. But for some reason, she felt like that wasn't the problem.

She flopped onto the floor, pulling out of her meditation. Her head hurt. She really wanted to let go of some of her frustration. Maybe she should just punch Aang. Then again, knowing him, he would just stop it like he had done a while ago, just to rub the lesson in her face.

Her eyes widened, remembering what he had said after she had tried to punch him the second time.

_"I was only able to stop you because it took you too long to release all the energy in the punch."_

He said that she had failed to release all her energy, not she had failed to build up enough energy. Her eyes sparkled with realization. She had failed so far because she was building up energy that she was already supposed to have before even moving. She honestly felt like smacking herself for not getting it earlier. Waterbending was manipulation of forces, and what she had been doing before, building up energy from nothing, definitely wasn't waterbending.

She stood up once more and stepped in front of the boulder. Concentrating, she closed her eyes and, using a bit of what Aang had just taught her the other day, sent some of her energy circling inside her. She held it in, building it up. She slowly extended her hand toward the boulder, keeping a lid on the swirling energy inside her that was ready to burst. When her open palm made contact, her eyes snapped open, and with a quick push, she let go of all the energy that she had built up inside of her.

The boulder blasted away with explosive force, even knocking Toph a step back. It rushed across the hall, damaging the tiled floor, until it finally came to a stop about fifty feet away.

"Whoo! Beat that Twinkle toes!"

But Aang seemed to have something else in mind. He got up immediately and grabbed her right hand, turning her palm upward, showing a few nasty blisters.

"Are you alright?" he asked silently.

"What? That? Please, that's nothing." It wasn't enough to convince him. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Her wince told him otherwise. He took her other hand and dragged her out of the hall.

-x-

"Would you stop fussing, Twinkle toes? I told you, I'm fine!"

Aang silently continued to bandage her fingers with a certain tenderness. After a few more rolls, he finally let go of her hand. "There, I'm done."

"I told you I was fine. You're almost as bad as Sugar Queen," she said, cradling her hand. "And she could just heal it later anyway."

Finally returning a bit to his old self, he gave a small smile. He pretended to reach for her injured hand again, and Toph instinctively pulled away. "It doesn't look like nothing to me." He changed his tone to a bit more serious one. "Try and be more careful would you, Toph?"

"Why? I was just doing the exercise you told me to do, nothing dangerous."

"I told you that it's dangerous for anyone to hold so much energy inside them. You saw what happened to your hand when you released all of it at once."

"But wasn't that the lesson?" she asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"Yes." He sighed loudly. "I guess I didn't teach you properly... This wouldn't have happened if I did." Aang dropped his head, disappointed in himself.

Toph could feel his spirits drop and sighed. She honestly wasn't sure about what to do in situations like this. She got up to her feet, walked over to Aang, and using what she had just learned, pushed Aang to the ground with her left hand.

"Toph!" He was silenced when she suddenly raised her left palm for him to look at.

"See? No blisters."

"Huh?" Aang couldn't see what she was getting at.

"I learned, Twinkle toes. Yes, what happened earlier wasn't exactly what you had planned. I made a mistake and got hurt because of it. But I learned from that mistake."

"But-"

"You forget that you're also still learning, Twinkle toes. Learning how to teach me. You say you made a mistake earlier. Learn from it and stop being so dramatic."

Actually, she hadn't said everything on her mind. She had also meant to say that she liked being with the hyper, energetic Aang, and that he should hurry up and feel better so she wouldn't have to deal with a depressed Aang. Fortunately for her, she had caught herself before she actually said it. It was definitely too sappy for her lips. Then again, people didn't always have to say the words for the message to get across.

"Alright," Aang said, smiling. Toph smiled as well.

"Good."

"Just to make sure, you know what you did just now was dangerous, right? You know, pushing me to the floor using that technique?"

"Hey, I made sure that I used as little energy as I could," she answered, raising her hands defensively.

"Okay, just checking. Come on, we're going to look for herbs."

"I told you, my hand is fine!"

Aang laughed. "You can say what you want but I'm still going to get something for that. Besides I was going to look for something for the others anyway. When he feels he has to, Sokka will eat anything, no matter how much his stomach hurts."

Toph put up a bit of a fuss but followed eventually. It did feel a bit nice, someone worrying about you. She didn't need it, but she definitely appreciated it. Not that she was ever going to tell him that. Or maybe, not directly at least.

* * *

A/N: Kinda strange lesson for waterbending no? I was surprised myself when I found it, researching a bit about Tai Chi Quan, but thought that it might be a good lesson. I think I was able to make it fit in nicely with how waterbending works as well. There was something kinda off when I first finished this, but I think I was able to fix it to some extent, if not completely.

Sorry it took a while to update. My head's been a mess lately, and I can't think straight when I'm like this. I'll get a grip soon enough, don't worry. I just don't like to rush or force a chapter too much, because I don't like the stuff that comes out of it. Just try and bear with me. Oh, and review please! XP


	10. Swimming Lesson

A/N: I know, long wait. Just go ahead and read XP

* * *

**Swimming Lesson**

"We're lost, Twinkle toes."

"No, we're not! I'm sure it was around here somewhere!"

Aang and Toph were wandering around the forest near the Western Air Temple. The young monk was looking around almost frantically, trying to remember where he had found a lake a few days ago, while she was simply following him lazily.

"Give it up, Twinkle toes. You're never gonna find that lake."

"No! Maybe if we just go a bit further..."

"You've been saying that for hours already. Let's just go back."

Aang was reluctantly about to agree with her when he realized something. "Hang on... You know where it is, don't you?"

"Yep." It wasn't exactly hard for her since her skills in sensing were a lot better than Aang's.

"Then why don't you tell me where it is?"

"Because I don't need to learn how to swim."

"It's for waterbending!"

"No, it's not! I know I don't need to learn swimming to waterbend!"

"But Toph!" he whined. "I told you! Any self respecting waterbender would know how to swim!"

"Fine, I'm not a self respecting waterbender. Can we go now?"

"Toph!" Apparently, poking at her pride wasn't working as well as it used to. He'd have to find some other way.

"What? I told you there's no reason or me to learn how to swim."

"What if you fall off a boat in the middle of the lake?" Aang challenged.

"Someone would rescue me."

"What if you were alone?"

"I wouldn't ride a boat without someone I trust."

"What if you need to cross a river?"

"I'll just bend something to stand on."

"What if it was at the South Pole?"

"I'd never go there anyway."

"What if you get stuck in an underwater prison?"

"Swimming wouldn't help, Twinkle toes."

Aang groaned. He was starting to run out of reasons to get Toph to learn swimming. Well, he was done trying to convince her. It was time for Plan B.

"Is the lake that way?" he asked, pointing ina random direction.

"I'm not going to tell you. Besides, I can just lie."

"Just answer," he said firmly.

"No."

He pointed in another direction. "Is it that way?"

It was a good thing his feet were firmly planted on the ground, or else he wouldn't have been able to pick up the slight spike in her heartbeat.

"No."

Aang smirked. He rushed over to Toph and quickly hoisted her over his shoulder and before she could react, jumped high into the air, landing on a tree branch.

"Twinkle toes! Put me down or I will hurt you!"

"No!" he laughed, jumping to the next tree. "You'd hurt me anyway!"

Toph growled. Since when could Twinkle toes sense lying? She hadn't taught him that. He must've figured it out himself. She definitely should have limited his time experimenting with earthbending.

Aang carried her across the forest, jumping from tree to tree. It looked like he knew that as long as he kept a certain distance from the ground, he was safe from her earthbending. Now there was absolutely nothing stopping him from getting her to the lake. But that didn't mean she was going to make it easy for him.

"Ow! Quit pinching me!"

"No."

-x-

"Woohoo!"

A loud splash was heard throughout the forest as Aang jumped into the crystal clear water of the lake. Toph, on the other hand, still wasn't showing any amount of enthusiasm and opted to stand at the shore.

"You're way too excited Twinkle toes. You didn't even take your clothes off."

Aang shrugged in response. "I'll just waterbend them dry. What are doing standing there?"

"Not swimming."

"But why? We already came here."

"You dragged me here, Twinkle toes. That doesn't count."

"Fine, but since we're here, you should make it worth the trip and learn how to swim," he said, smiling broadly.

"I'm saving myself the trouble of learning how to swim." She started walking away, waving a hand over her shoulder. "See you back at camp, Twinkle toes."

Aang puffed his cheeks out, slightly annoyed. All she had to do was get into the water, what was the big deal? Well, she was going to learn how to swim, whether she wanted to or not.

With a small push of his hands, an enormous wave erupted from the lake's placid surface, stretching out over the shore. A loud watery splash later, Toph was pulled into the lake.

"Twinkle toes!"

"I'm right here- ow! Would you stop flailing already? I've got you!"

Aang managed to grab Toph around the waist despite her wild movements, wrapping his arms around her waist, keeping them both afloat. Finally noticing that she was no longer in danger she stopped flailing and gave Aang a good hard punch.

"Ow! What was that for? You gave Suki a kiss for rescuing you and I get a punch?"

She blushed at the memory. The thought still embarrassed her to no end, and just for mentioning it, she gave him another good punch.

"Shut up! It's your fault I was drowning just now!"

Aang remained silent a moment other than a little grumbling, until a smirk formed on his face. "Are you really sure you want to talk to me like that?"

"I'll talk to you however I want, Twinkle toes," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Okay then." He promptly released her from his grasp and pushed away from her, leaving her to flail once more in the water.

"Twinkle toes!" She struggled, kicking and thrashing, trying to keep her head above water. She managed to inch through the water towards Aang, and as soon as he was in reach, clung to him.

She growled as she felt a little chuckle rumble through Aang's chest. Her face was burning bright red. She couldn't believe she had to cling to someone, to Twinkle toes of all people! This was almost as embarrassing as the time Katara had caught them dancing.

"So, are you gonna let me teach you how to swim now?" Aang asked.

Toph considered her options a moment. If she said no, he would just leave her struggling in the water again. And even if she did manage to get back to the shore, he would just airbend, waterbend, or earthbend her back in the lake. She sighed, seeing that she didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine..."

Aang grinned triumphantly. "Alright, first things first. We've gotta get our clothes off."

"WHAT?" she yelled, her face burning an even brighter red.

It looked like Aang was conscious enough of what he had said that he turned as red as Toph, and immediately corrected what he had said. "I mean we should take of our outer clothing! Not all our clothes! It can weigh you down you see, so it's better that we wear as little as possible."

"Oh." Her face was still quite red though. "Okay."

They stopped a moment at the shore to strip to their underwear, flinging their wet clothes to the dry ground. As soon as that was done, Aang pulled Toph bit by bit into the water, each of her hands in his own.

"See? This isn't so bad is it?"

"The water's only knee-deep, Twinkle toes."

"Hey, I'm taking it slow!" He took a few more steps deeper into the lake. "Careful, it gets deep already."

Toph moved forward slowly, being pulled gently by Aang. However, she froze at the point when her feet could no longer reach the sandy bottom of the lake.

"Come on, Toph," he smiled. "I've got you."

"Hold your horses, Twinkle toes. I'll go when I'm good and ready," she said stubbornly.

"Is the great Toph Bei Fong hesitating? What happened to taking things head on?"

She growled, taking the bait. She could take being called an un-self-respecting waterbender but there was no way she would let anyone say she hesitates.

"Oh yeah? Well what do you think of this Twinkle toes?" She gave the lake bed a firm stomp, getting a collumn of sand erupt beneath both of them, flinging them to the center of the lake.

Of course, Toph hadn't really thought things through when she had launched herself and Aang into the deep part of the lake. And as soon as she realized she was once again in deep water, her first thought was to start flailing her limbs wildly again. However, she noticed something was stopping her from doing so. Aang still had a firm grip on her hands, keeping the two of them afloat.

"I think that was reckless," he said. He looked at her a moment, and saw that she was really stiff, except for her legs that were kicking in the water as hard as they could. "Toph, relax would you?"

"That's easy to say Twinkle toes, but not so easy to do considering I'm kicking for my life here."

"You're going to wear yourself out if you keep that up by the way. Seriously, I would think this is a lot easier than gliding. I mean, I'm right here. You know I won't let anything happen to you."

At those words, Toph's expression softened slightly. She knew that there was no need to remind her of that. She trusted him completely. She gave in to Aang's words, letting out a big sigh and slowly relaxing herself, her wild movements slowing down to less erratic but still strong kicks.

"There, much better," Aang said, smiling.

Toph smiled as well. As usual, he was right. It was a lot easier to keep her head above the water's surface now that she wasn't so panicked.

They started moving through the water, getting Toph used to the feeling of swimming. And as they did, she noticed that Aang always kept at least one of his hands gripped firmly on her own. She gave a secret smile, appreciating the comfort that it gave her.

Unfortunately, it seemed that she had appreciated that comfort too soon. Aang suddenly let go of her hands, leaving Toph to tread water on her own.

"Twinkle toes!"

"Come on, Toph!" he said, a bit of laughter in his voice. "Swim to me! I know you can do it!"

She started paddling her limbs toward where she heard his voice, staying as calm she could, using what Aang had just been teaching her.

"That's it! You've almost reached me!"

"That's the fifth time you've said that and it doesn't sound like I'm getting any closer!" she yelled. "I know you're swimming away so would you just stay put?"

Her eyes suddenly widened. Her foot had just touched the lake bed. Was she already at the shore? They were in the middle of the lake just a few minutes ago.

She felt Aang move closer to her. "I knew you could do it," he smiled.

Unfortunately for Aang, instead of the heartfelt thanks he had been hoping to get, he got a punch in the arm. Hard too.

"That's for letting go of my hand in the middle of the lake!"

Aang smirked. "What, you need me to hold your hand?" He barely dodged the bulk of sand that Toph had sent his way.

"That's it! You're dead, Twinkle toes!" she yelled. Her face was strangely red, and no one could identify whether it was from anger or embarrassment.

Aang jumped out of the lake, laughing chilidishly. "Gotta catch me first!"

Quickly grabbing their clothes, Aang rushed off into the forest, followed by the still red faced Toph.

-x-

Katara was walking just outside the Western Air Temple, a ceramic bowl in her hand, filled with a few nuts and berries which she had picked for dinner.

"Ha! Gotcha Twinkle toes!"

She looked up from the bush she was looking through, recognizing Toph's voice. Smirking slightly, she slowly creeped over to where she had heard the earthbender's voice, hoping to catch another one of Aang and Toph's cute moments together.

A loud crash echoed through the forest as the bowl hit the ground, shattering into a hundred pieces. Katara stared wide eyed at the scene in front of her, mouth agape. Toph on top of Aang... and in their _underwear_.

The two looked up at the sound of the crash.

"Katara?"

"Sugar Queen?"

Finally, she was able to get over the initial shock, letting her motherly instincts kick in. Despite the fact she thought the two did look very cute together, she definitely did not approve of whatever they were doing. She marched over to the two and pulled them apart, grabbing each of them by the wrist.

"We are going to have a _talk_."

Ignoring Toph's look of horror and Aang's questioning look, she pulled them toward the Western Air Temple. Yes, she was definitely going to give them both a good, long talk.

* * *

A/N: Well, I've never taught anyone how to swim, and I taught myself, so I had a bit of trouble writing this. Still, I think what I did was ok. Basically a for fun chapter. Not really necessary in learning bending, but just another fun lesson. It is 'Teaching Toph' after all, which means any lesson goes :D

One more waterbending chapter to go and we're into firebending! Man, I'm seriously having trouble thinking of lessons for it, only got two vague ideas so far. Feel free to suggest lessons, ways to teach them, or both if you want. I'll be happy to consider them. Review please!


	11. Sight Without Seeing

A/N: Wow! 100 reviews! Really guys, I appreciate this. I'm so glad I didn't leave this a oneshot! XP

* * *

**Sight Without Seeing**

"Now Aang, you always have to be mindful of how you act. Being a boy, you have certain responsibilities..."

Toph couldn't believe it. Well, no actually, she could believe it. But seriously, it had already been a few days since the incident, and the waterbender was still dishing things out. Right now, she had once again cornered the two of them for another talking session.

It was okay for the young earthbending master, she knew a thing or two about the stuff Katara talked about. But Aang was a monk. He might get scarred at the rate Katara was going. In fact, there was a slight twitch in his eye now whenever he heard Katara's voice. Probably not permanent, but still.

"Hey Twinkle toes," she whispered. "Ready to bail?"

He looked at her, almost desperately. "Definitely."

Katara, who had her back turned momentarily to pull out a few illustrations she had made just for the occasion, was suddenly blinded by a dust storm, courtesy of Toph. Quickly carrying his partner in crime in his arms, Aang sped away at an airbender's speed. By the time Katara had managed to open her eyes, they were long gone.

"You guys can't run from this forever!"

-x-

After reaching a safe distance from the motherly waterbender, Aang set Toph down on her feet, panting slightly.

"Ugh, can you believe how Sweetness is being lately?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Aang grumbled.

"How you holding up, Twinkle toes?" Normally, she would be teasing him about stuff like this, but seeing how she also knew how much torture it was to be given 'The Talk' by Katara, she was a little sympathetic.

"Well, I'll live at the very least. I'm just glad that we're always able to pull off our escape stunts before she really gets going."

"Besides, you have lessons with me to look forward to," she added, smirking.

"Yeah, I definitely wouldn't last too long without you," he said, smiling. "Which reminds me, I have a present for you."

"A present? For what?"

"I dunno, just felt like giving you something." He walked over to the temple's wall and with a bit of earthbending, pulled out one of the large bricks, revealing a small hiding space. He reached in and pulled out a package, handing it to Toph.

Toph wasn't exactly sure how to react. She had never really gotten a present before, especially not one that was given just because the person felt like it.

"Uhm, thanks." She started ripping the paper wrapping, using her touch to identify what Aang had given her. "Twinkle toes, what is this?"

"Shoes," he answered, grinning broadly. The grin was promptly wiped off after a hard punch from Toph.

"I know they're shoes. I'm asking why you're giving me shoes. You know I'll barely be able to 'see' with these on."

"But now that you know waterbending, that shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh..." There was a barely noticeable flash of disappointment on her face. "You mean this is for training."

"Well, it's definitely gonna be useful for today's lesson. Go on! Put them on!" She silently complied. "What do you think?"

"Well, they're comfy at least. But I really can't see."

"Good," he smiled. "Ready to spar?"

-x-

"Explain again how we're supposed to spar when I can't see a thing?"

The two had moved to a much bigger hall, knowing that damage to the temple could only be minimized and not avoided. Across her, Aang smiled.

"I told you, we both won't be able see. I've got a blindfold and shoes on, so we're on equal footing."

"Fine, that explains how its fair, but it still doesn't explain how we're supposed to spar."

"Come on, Toph. You know the answer to that."

She cocked her head to the side in slight concentration. "You mean this is like the first lesson? Feeling forces?"

"Yep. Though it's on a much higher level. This is usually a test of mastery in all waterbending techiniques and principles. Blind sparring."

"Kinda fitting for me though, isn't it?" she smirked. "Blind sparring for a blind earthbender."

"You really think you have the advantage, don't you?"

A smug smile flashed across her face. "Yep."

"Well you don't," he sneered. "Like I said, with those shoes on, we're on equal footing. Actually, I would think I have the advantage being your waterbending master. I should be able to beat you easily."

"Ha! Let's see you try." She positioned herself in her earthbending stance.

"Oh, I intend to," he smirked, mimicking her.

Silence passed betwen them. Now that they weren't talking, Toph had nothing on Aang. In fact, she could only guess where he was, hoping that he was still at the spot he had last spoken from.

She suddenly heard the crumble of earth from under her feet, and was launched into the air as a pillar of earth rose from under her. She jumped off, landing gently on her feet. She growled to herself. How was Aang able to find her?

"Hey! Are you sure that blindfold is on properly?" she yelled.

Her answer was a boulder directed right at her. She was only just able to get her arms up to defend herself, allowing the boulder to crumble to pieces around her. She muttered a silent curse. She wasn't doing as well as she thought she would.

_Then again, I haven't really gotten started yet_, she thought, a smirk forming on her face.

She changed her position from an earthbending stance to a waterbending one. Then, just as she did during meditation, she extended herself, feeling everything around her, waiting for a shift in movement in the environment.

A small sound reached her ears, along with a change in the environment. She could feel it. Aang was moving some rock. Anticipating his move, she thrust a fist forward, making a stone spike erupt from the foor a few feet away from her. Her opponent took the bait, and the loud crash of solid stone colliding echoed in the halls.

Toph paced around carefully so as not to give her position away, keeping her senses open to the surroundings. She felt another shift in the environment, but feeling how it moved, she knew it wasn't Aang. He was trying to get her to give away her position by getting her to attack his decoys.

There was a long period of silence. Neither of the two were willing to make more than a few movements, trying to hide their position. Toph knew it wouldn't be good to stay like that. Staying still was boring, which would make her impatient and rash, and she definitely wanted to win this time.

She broke into a run, her footsteps echoing through the hall. Almost immediately, she felt two things move. One she knew was earth, from how it moved and the large change in the surrounding energy she felt from it. The other was a smaller movement, a movement commanding the rock to move: Aang.

A boulder was soon closing in on her position. She quickly stepped to the side, dodging the boulder, and using her own earthbending, siezed control of it. She gave it a few spins around her, increasing its power before she sent it rocketing back toward where she knew Aang was. A low grunt confirmed a direct hit.

Not wasting any time, Toph slammed an open palm to the ground, releasing energy she had quickly built up inside of her. The tiles around her jolted out of the floor, breaking up into decent sized stones. She drew all the debris spinning around her as she made circular motions with her body, both building energy and making it hard for Aang to pinpoint her position from all the movement. After one final spin, she sent the whole mass of rock and stone toward him.

Aang smirked. Toph was definitely a handful now. Even though she had just learned waterbending, she was moving just like an expert waterbender. And not only that, she wasn't compromising her earthbending when learning other bending. She just got stronger and stronger. More whole, in a sense.

But he supposed what he should be dealing with at the moment was what he was going to do with the onslaught of rock rain. Admiring Toph's growth could wait.

_Simple enough, a rock shield ought to do it,_ he thought.

"Aang! Toph!"

It was that voice. Aang heard it. He twitched. A second later, he was embedded into the temple wall.

Aang groaned, pulling off his blindfold. Sure enough, Katara was there in the hall with them, and from the look on her face, he definitely didn't want to be there.

"Did I win?" Toph asked, pulling off her shoes. "Oh..."

Katara had opened her mouth to say who knew what she thought they were doing, probably also entailing some advice and precautions, but Toph cut her off.

"Let's make a break for it, Twinkle toes!"

Jumping up to avoid some water that would have frozen him to the spot, he rushed over to Toph, picked her up, and sped away, leaving nothing but a trail of dust behind him.

"Sooner or later, I'm going to figure out a way to stop your escape stunts!"

-x-

Night had fallen over the camp. Katara had given up on trying to talk to Aang and Toph, at least for the day, and was getting well deserved rest for trying. Toph on the other hand, was still very much awake. She was laying with her back against Appa, appreciating his warm fur on a cold night, and in her hands were the shoes Aang had given her that morning.

She knew she was being stupid. She knew that normally, she wouldn't have given it a second thought, dismissing it as petty. But for some reason she couldn't help, she was disappointed. Disappointed that the only reason Aang had given her something was because it was for training. She tried to lie to herself, convince herself, but she knew that she had wanted Aang to give her something 'just because'. She wanted to feel... special... to someone.

She groaned in frustration at herself. She was getting soft.

"Toph?"

The young monk jumped down from Appa's saddle, landing right next to Toph. Sitting next to her, he asked, "Something wrong?"

"No."

Aang frowned. "You're lying, and I don't need earthbending to tell me that."

"Fine, I'm lying. But it's none of your business." she said sharply.

He looked at her with hurt eyes. He noticed the shoes in her hands. "You don't like your shoes?"

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

She suddenly rounded on him. "Why did you lie to me?"

"Huh?"

"The shoes! You said you got them for me as a present for no reason at all. But in truth it was just for training..." She wasn't able to hide the slightly hurt tone in her voice.

Aang, on the other hand, simply smiled. "I didn't lie to you, Toph. Yes, we did use those shoes for your training, but I didn't get them for that."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed.

"You know I'm not lying. I've actually had those shoes for a while now. I just couldn't find the right time to give them to you."

He paused a moment, giving Toph a moment to start accepting the fact that he was telling the truth. "You know, I'm a little surprised. I didn't think you cared so much," he said, smirking.

Toph's face immediately flushed a deep red. "Shut up, Twinkle toes!" She gave him a good punch on the arm, it definitely made her feel better.

"Good, you're back to normal," he laughed, rubbing his sore arm. He looked at her a moment. "Feel better?"

Toph, despite being embarrassed, smiled at him. "Yeah, much better. Thanks, Twinkle toes."

She suddenly gave him another hard punch.

"Ow! What was that for?"

She smirked. "Just because."

* * *

A/N: Got kinda shippy here I guess, but I like it XD

I've never gotten so many reviews! Reaching 100 is amazing for me (all that's left is if someone makes a drawing of this or something, haha). Makes me want to work on this harder. I've also been reading back on some Taang fics and I just realized that I unconsciously soak up stuff and use bits in my fic, so I thank all you Taang writers out there!

Once again, thanks for all the support! Review please!


	12. Creating Energy

A/N: Ugh, I lost half the file just when I was about to post it. Took a while to rewrite it. I've got terrible luck.

* * *

**Creating Energy**

Toph lazily lobbed a ball up above her, snatching it out of the air as gravity brought it back down. She smirked, satisfied, and continued with her exercise. Of all the waterbending exercises Aang had taught her, she found this the most useful. Since waterbending made her more sensitive to the environment, she was now able to tell to some extent the position of airborne objects.

She entered one of the Western Air Temple's halls and immediately felt a sharp gaze fall upon her. She didn't need to sense who it was. It was obviously Katara. The waterbender had finally given up trying to get them to sit down to talk, so she had adopted a different approach: ambush. She would just keep an eye on them and suddenly yell out bits of advice. Like that one time she had yelled out for Aang to 'be gentle' with her during training.

Ignoring Katara's analytical gaze, she strode over to Aang who was currently lying on Appa's tail, playing with Momo. She sat down next to him, still tossing the ball to herself.

"Hey Twinkle toes?"

"Hm?"

"I just remembered something. You said last time that blind sparring was a test of mastery, didn't you?"

"Yep. I wouldn't say you've _'master' _mastered waterbending, but yeah, you've pretty much got it," he answered, smiling.

"So..."

Aang smirked. "So what?"

"Argh! Twinkle toes! You know what's 'what'!"

"No, I don't think so," he answered, keeping his cool as well as his smug smile. "You might have to spell it out for me."

For once, Aang could enjoy watching Toph squirm, even if just a bit. She mumbled something incoherent.

"Excuse me?"

"... you... lement..."

"A little louder."

"I SAID, WOULD YOU TEACH ME THE NEXT ELEMENT?" Aang winced at the volume. It didn't help that he had leaned in to hear better.

Despite possible ear damage, he laughed softly. "There, that wasn't so hard was it?" he teased.

"Shut up, Twinkle toes."

"Anyway, yes, I'll be glad to teach you earthbending." The smart remark cost him a punch in the arm. "Ow! You said the next element!"

"Please, you teach me earthbending? Honestly, your mouth is getting too smart for your own good."

"It's what I get from hanging around you," he laughed. She laughed as well.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Twinkle toes. So? I still haven't heard the answer I'm looking for."

Aang smiled. "Of course I'll teach you firebending. You know you don't have to ask."

"I remember someone saying that its just a formality," she smirked.

"And I remember someone saying that we're anything but formal."

They both laughed. One could definitely say they've been hanging around each other too much. Then again, who said that was a bad thing?

"So, you want to get started?"

Before Toph could answer, Zuko approached the two of them. "Aang, time for firebending."

"But I was about to teach Toph firebending!" he whined.

Zuko looked a moment at the two. Aang was going for the pity approach, his large beady eyes watering pleadingly. Toph was using a different tactic, giving him a 'go ahead and try me' look.

The firebender sighed. Ever since Aang had started training Toph, he could never get him to concentrate in firebending training. The only thing that went through his mind were his lessons with Toph. Still, he supposed he could let him off with good reason this time. After all, Aang said that they were going to do firebending.

"Fine, but I'm going to check in every now and then to make sure you're at least teaching it right."

Another voice suddenly spoke up. "Why not just have Zuko teach her?" Everyone looked over to Katara. "I mean, Aang's still learning firebending, so wouldn't it be better for the actual teacher to do it?"

Zuko was about to disagree, saying that he had no intention of teaching the earthbender firebending. It was just as good as asking her to assault him with a new earthbending style. Besides, it was a bit obvious that Katara had only suggested that to limit the alone time Aang and Toph had, or at least have an excuse to be around if another person was there. Before he could voice his thoughts, another voice had spoken.

"No way! The only person I want to learn from is Twinkle toes!" A moment of silence filled the air as everyone looked at Toph. A light blush reached her cheeks when she finally realized what she had actually said. "I-I didn't mean that!"

"You mean you don't want Aang to teach you?" Zuko asked pointedly.

"No! I-I mean, er... I didn't mean it in the way she's thinking I meant it!" she yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Katara.

"What? Would you care to explain what exactly I was thinking?" she asked, a smug smile on her face.

"You were thinking that me and Twinkles... that we... we were... erm... um..." For a moment, she seemed like she couldn't find anything to say. "See ya!" she suddenly shouted running toward the exit of the hall, grabbing Aang's collar on the way and dragging him along.

Zuko looked at Katara, surprised that she wasn't following them yet. On her face was a strangely happy look.

"That was so _cuuuuute_!" she gushed. Zuko smiled awkwardly. Her current attitude was a bit better than her being motherly, he supposed.

"Oh, by the way, I'm going with you when you check up on them." The prince's shoulders sagged, noticing that it was an order, not a request. '_Really, the things mothers do...'_

_-x-  
_

Toph continued pulling Aang roughly through the Air Temple. Once they reached a large enough hall to train in, she finally let go of him.

"Um, Toph?"

"I don't want to hear it, Twinkle toes. Just start teaching firebending already, would you?"

He noticed her slightly exasperated tone. It looked like she wasn't in the mood to put up with any of his questions at the moment. Well, he supposed he could wait.

"Alright then," he smiled. "Welcome to your first firebending lesson!"

Toph smiled when she heard the enthusiasm in his voice, glad that he had set aside his own concerns for the moment.

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"Hm..." Aang fondled his chin in thought. "Well, what do you think our lesson should be?"

"Twinkle toes, you're the teacher here."

"I know, but you should still have some idea on what the lesson could be. Each of the four elements are related, part of a whole. Each are strong and weak in certain points. What is strong in one bending principle may be weak in another. That's why there are opposites, Fire against Water, Earth against Air."

"Okay... so you want me to figure it out based on what I know about the other elements?"

"Yep."

Toph crossed her arms, her brows furrowed in thought. "Fire is the opposite of Water..." she started, "and since waterbending focuses on manipulating forces..."

"Yes, go on." Aang was clearly getting excited by the sound of his voice.

"...firebending works by... not... manipulating forces."

Toph threw Aang an irritated glare when he suddenly laughed out loud. "Oh, shut up!"

He managed to calm himself down enough to talk. "Sorry, Toph! But that's actually pretty good!"

"So it really is about not manipulating forces?"

"Pretty close. Fire is energy. Firebenders gather energy inside of them, releasing it in the form of fire. So we can say that firebending focuses on creating energy, as opposed to waterbending which manipulates already existing energy."

"So how are we going to train?"

"The source of a firebender's energy is in his breath, so beginner firebenders usually start with breathing exercises. But since I know you would hurt me if I ever tried to make you breathe as an exercise, we're going to skip that."

Toph smirked. She was glad that he knew her well.

"After that, firebenders would need to learn to feel and familiarize themselves with the energy they're supposed to bend. This is usually done by feeling the sun. Again, as I have no desire to be hurt for suggesting a lesson you would find boring, we're going to skip this.

"So, we're going to start like this. Since firebenders use their own energy to create fire, we need to have a lot of stamina. We learn to increase the energy we can produce."

He took an earthbending stance, spreading his feet apart with his arms raised level to his waist, his palms turned upward. He gave the ground a hard stomp, turning his palms to the floor and slowly raising his hands. The floor began to rumble and crack. Soon, a chunk of the floor that could have easily fit Appa separated itself from the temple, hovering in the air. Aang held it up for a whole minute before slowly lowering it back into place.

"Okay, you need to be able to hold it up for at least..." He stopped, noticing that Toph had already stepped forward and already in her earthbending stance. She repeated the same movemnts he did, lifting the heavy floor once more. It was quite apparent that she was having an easy time by the look on her face. Also by the fact that she held it up for three minutes without breaking a sweat.

"That... wasn't so bad," Aang muttered.

"Not bad? Come on, Twinkle toes. That was awesome! And a lot better than what you did," she sneered.

"I was just demonstrating! I wasn't going all out!"

"Oh yeah? Let's see you prove it!"

"You bet I will!" It was quite clear that a bit of Toph had been rubbing off on Aang recently. Other than the smart mouth, her stubborn behavior had gotten to him as well. "How are we going to do this?"

"Alright, we both pull and hold up the same amount of earth. Anyone can add more rock to his or her load and the other has to match it. First one to drop or can't match up loses."

"You're on!"

"Hey! Sparky!" Toph shouted to the hall entrance. "I know you're there with Sugar Queen! Come on out, we need a referee!"

No one came out, but a voice answered. "No, I'm not going to referee a potentially dangerous match between two competitive earthbenders!" A little voice murmured, Katara speaking to Zuko by the sound of it. "What? If you want to go in there, be my guest!" More murmurs. "What? No way, you wouldn't dare! ...would you?" Murmur again. "Alright, fine..."

Finally, Zuko emerged from the hall entrance, wearing a very disgruntled look. He was followed by Katara, who had a smug smile on her face.

"There, you got yourself a referee," he grunted. "Co-referee too," he added, motioning to Katara.

"Alright! You and Sugar Queen heard the rules, so let's get started!"

Aang and Toph stood on opposite ends of the hall, already in their earthbending stances, while Zuko and Katara stood at the side betwen them.

Zuko looked to both earthbenders. "Ready?" The two nodded curtly. "Bend!"

Moving in sync, Aang and Toph lifted two huge pieces of stone from the floor, holding it up in the air. As they did so, Sokka entered the hall.

"What's going on?"

"Toph challenged Aang," Katara explained. At the mention of a challenge, Sokka's eyes lit up, but was disappointed to find that they were just lifting weights.

"Aww. Where's the action? What happened to chucking rocks at each other?"

"Keep talking and a rock just might be chucked right at you," Zuko warned, noting the determined faces of the two competitors. It looked like they weren't going stand for any distraction, and anyone who would be one, may get hurt severely.

The two benders continued their match, occasionally adding a few more rocks to his or her own pile. Ten minutes passed quickly, and fatigue was becoming more and more apparent. Still, it looked like neither was willing to give up just yet.

Toph was genuinely impressed with Aang. She had realized that it was probably easier for an earthbender to learn firebending than it was for an airbender. True, he was an earthbender now, but like he had said before, he was still an airbender. That's why it was quite surprising that he was able to put up such a good fight against her. Still, that didn't mean she was about to lose to him.

Noticing that Aang was nearing his limit, she decided to end it once and for all. She gave the ground a hard stomp and a boulder the size of Appa's head was added to her pile.

"Beat that, Twinkle toes!"

He was too out of breath to respond. Aang honestly felt like collapsing on the spot. His arms felt like lead, and all his muscles were screaming for a break. He raised a foot, about to add a boulder to match Toph's, but his body finally gave in, his determination not enough to fight his body's needs. He collapsed on all fours, his pile of rock and stone crashing down to the floor with him. A second later, Toph let her own pile fall to the floor.

"And the winner of this pointless competition is Toph," Zuko announced. He turned to Katara. "Can I go now?"

After receiving an affirmative nod, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka left the severely damaged hall, the Water Tribe boy complaining loudly about the boring match.

Aang had resigned himself to sitting on the floor, leaning against the rubble. He groaned when he heard footsteps approaching and prepared himself for the invitable taunting.

"What was that you were saying Twinkle toes? You weren't going all out?"

"Okay, fine. You win. Happy?"

"Aww, come on. It's no fun if you don't put up a fight."

Aang didn't respond and remained silent. Toph was actually starting to get worried. Did he really take the loss so hard?

"Erm... um... Aang? Hey, you okay, Twinkle toes? You're not sore about losing are you?"

"No, I'm not. Well, maybe a bit. It's just that... I just realized. You're probably a lot better than me at firebending."

Toph felt a touch of irritation. That was it? He had a problem just because she was better than him? "So? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. But... how am I supposed to teach you firebending like this? I can't teach you something I can't do myself. And from the looks of things, you probably won't have a problem passing me in firebending. I won't be able to teach you when that happens."

Toph's eyes widened in surprise, and when his words finally sunk in, she smiled. She should have known. Aang was always thinking about her before he thought of himself. He always had her best interests at heart. The concern felt nice.

"Toph, maybe you should learn from Zuko. We can learn it toge-"

"No."

Aang blinked, confused. Didn't she get what he was trying to say? He wouldn't be able to teach her firebending properly! The logical course of action would be to just find another teacher.

"But Toph-"

"No buts. I said it before and I'll say it again. I don't want to learn from anyone but you, Twinkle toes. You were the one who convinced me to learn other bending in the first place. You're the one who taught me so well with fun and occasionally embarrassing lessons. I don't care if Sparky is a better firebender. I know that you're a better teacher for me, and I really think that the only person who can teach me properly is you."

Aang could only stare at her. The things she had said were just so touching, so comforting.

"Who are you and what have you done with Toph?" Not even a second later, he was jabbed on the arm.

"Shut up, Twinkle toes." Her cheeks had flushed a light pink. "Can't believe I said that stuff. I'm really getting soft..."

Aang smiled at her, got up, and suddenly pulled her into a hug. "Thanks Toph. It was really nice to hear."

Toph awkwardly circled her arms around Aang, her face now a deep shade of red. She didn't mind group hugs, but this was a bit more affectionate than what she was used to.

"Okay, okay, enough with the mushiness," she said. She was about to push him off, when Katara's voice boomed across the hall.

"Not so close you two! And Aang, make sure your hands are above her waist! Remember, be mindful!"

* * *

A/N: Shippiness levels are still within an acceptable range for this fic XP

Oh, and before I forget, thanks to AvatarAiris who gave part of the chapter's idea in one of her earlier reviews.

Sorry, but firebending will be short. Might reach only three lessons at least, including this one, then the last chapter. Don't worry, I think I have a surprise you'll like. I'll announce it just before the final chapter. I'm getting excited!


	13. Between Balance and Unbalance

A/N: This one was pretty tough to write, but I managed to make my personal deadline :D

* * *

**Between Balance and Unbalance**

"Toph, what are you doing?"

They were currently standing on a platform overlooking the courtyard where Aang and Zuko were training. Sokka approached the blind earthbender with caution, noticing the mischievous look in her eyes.

"Really Toph, what are you doing?"

"Hot Head has been hogging Aang all morning!"

Sokka raised an eyebrow at her comment.

"This is a problem... why?"

"Yes, Toph." Katara suddenly appeared, joining the two of them with a very smug smile, "Is it a problem that you're not able to spend any alone time with Aang?"

Toph groaned but couldn't keep a little red from coming to her cheeks. She definitely had to start wording her sentences better. Then again, knowing Katara, she would be able to make something out of it no matter what she said. She honestly didn't know which was better, a teasing Katara or a motherly Katara.

"I haven't been able to train with him for a while now, okay? That's the only reason!" she huffed.

"But didn't you train with him the whole day two days ago?"

Toph blinked. "That was two days ago? Weird. Feels longer than that..."

"Ah, yes," Katara said melodramatically. "A second we spend apart from our loved ones seems like an eternity."

"Yeah, of course you would know, Sugar Queen. Being apart from Zuko, Haru, and who else is there?"

A frown immediately replaced Katara's smug smile. "Shut up, Toph."

Smirking with her victory in her verbal bout with Katara, she turned once more to the training firebenders. She ducked down, so that she wouldn't be visible to them.

"Get down or leave," she told the two.

"And why should we do that?" Sokka asked.

"Because you don't want to cross me."

Being presented with more than enough motivation to do what she said, the Water Tribe siblings got down to the floor. Toph simply lay there, waiting for the right moment.

Aang was doing his best to concentrate on his lessons with Zuko. Now, he had even more reason to learn firebending as best as he could. After all, the only way he could teach Toph firebending properly was if he himself could do it well. Which was why he was doing his best to resist complaining. Then again, complaining to a hotheaded firebender was never a good thing in the first place.

"More power!" Zuko barked. "Be more aggressive!"

Aang fought the urge to whine and complied with his Sifu's commands. He repeatedly thrust his fists forward, a surge of flame erupting with each punch, moving quickly through a complicated footwork pattern. He spun around, kicking the air with a burst of fire.

"Come on, Aang! More ferocious!"

He spread his arms wide, a wave of fire scattering in the area. Jumping into the air, he delivered a couple of powerful fire kicks before landing on the ground.

As soon as Aang touched down on the floor, a crack in the floor spread from his feet. Zuko's good eye widened when he saw the crack move toward him, and finally, a pillar erupted from the floor, flinging Zuko a decent distance.

Aang stared in horror as he watched the events transpire. He didn't do that! He was being an obedient little firebender, following his Sifu's orders. But he doubted Zuko would even consider believing in him.

Zuko got up slowly, glaring at Aang with his golden eyes, literally breathing fire.

"Zuko, I know what you're thinking, but I didn't do that!"

He continued to glare however. At least he wasn't advancing toward the monk. He growled, pinching the bridge of his nose in attempt to calm himself. Finally, he gave a loud roar, flames coming forth from his mouth and fists.

"Training's over for today," he said shortly. He walked away, looking for things he was allowed to torch to relieve some of his fury.

Aang looked around, but didn't see anybody. He knew she was there though. "Was that really necessary Toph?" he asked out loud.

"Maybe not, but it was fun."

Toph stood up from where she was hiding and jumped down to the courtyard, landing right next to Aang.

"Easy for you to say. I'm the one who's in danger of getting barbequed."

"Quit your whining, Twinkle toes. Come on! You finally got a break from firebending."

"Yeah, now I can-"

"-teach me firebending," Toph finished.

"Actually, I was going to say rest... but teaching works!" he said, smiling.

"Good. Come on, let's go before Sparky changes his mind."

-x-

They had moved into the hall that housed the fountain. The two sat next to each other, taking a momentary break to soak their feet in the cooling water.

"So, what's our lesson for today?" Aang asked.

"Again? Can't we just skip this part and go right to the part where I kick your butt?"

"Hey! I acknowledge the fact that you _may _be better than me at firebending, but that doesn't mean you always will be better than me." Aang replied, defending the reputation he had left. It wasn't much, considering he was already known to have been beaten into the ground by a seemingly frail blind girl. "Come on, just think! It's important to be able to learn how the elements are connected to each other. This is one way to do that."

"Okay, but I can't think of anything else than Fire is the opposite of Water."

"How about this: Fire is learned between Earth and Air."

Toph folded her arms, scrunching her eyebrows in thought. "Air and Earth are opposite becuase Earth is rooted firmly to the ground, and Air is free. So... Fire is between?"

"See? Not so hard is it? Anyway, you're basically right. Earth receives its power by being firmly rooted. However, because of this, Earth lacks flexibility. Air, on the other hand, is completely flexible and free. But the downside is that it lacks strength."

"So you're saying Fire is both flexible and strong? Kinda unfair isn't it? How can it be both?"

"Here, let me show you." Aang got up and took a number of steps away from his firebending pupil standing in an earthbending stance. "This is earthbending."

He gave the ground a hard stomp, pushing a boulder out of the floor. Thrusting a fist forward, he knocked the boulder a decent distance away.

"And this," he said, gaving the ground another hard stomp, preparing another boulder, "is firebending."

He took a few steps back from the boulder, changing into a firebending stance. He suddenly sprang forward, jumping toward the boulder and gave it one single powerful kick. The boulder was knocked far enough that it almost reached his earlier boulder.

"Firebending is agile, and they use that agility to add more strength to their attacks."

Toph cocked her head to the side, slightly confused. "But then why is airbending not that strong?"

"Well, the kind of agility used in firebending is a bit different than in airbending. In airbending, we are agile, but we always maintain a certain degree of balance. In firebending, they are able to draw power from their agility by putting themselves out of balance to a certain extent. This is why firebending moves have a lot of exagerrated movement."

"Yeah... you're not making much sense, Twinkle toes."

"Well, you remember how I moved that boulder earlier right? By jumping? When I was in the air, I barely had any control of my movement. But it was because of that lack of control that adds power. Another perfect example is how firebenders make lightning. They create an imbalance, and using it, they are able to create lightning."

Toph nodded, understanding to some extent. "Okay, so how are we going to do this?"

"The thing is you already know how to put power into your attack from your earthbending. And now, you also know how to be flexible with your airbending. The only thing left to do is find the in between."

Aang stepped near the fountain. Using a bit of waterbending, he pulled out a stream of water and formed it into a hollow globe, freezing it.

"For today's exercise, you're going to try to shatter this globe of ice."

"That sounds easy," she said confidently.

"Well, go ahead and try," Aang said, holding out the globe.

Toph gave the ground a hard stomp. A blunt spike erupted from the ground, aiming toward Aang's outstretched hand. However, just before it was about to get hit, Aang tossed the globe to his other hand, saving it from being shattered.

"Hey!"

"Oh, come on," Aang teased. "I've been teaching you for how long now? You should know that it wouldn't be that easy."

Toph smirked. She supposed she knew it from the very start. "Don't think this changes what I said, Twinkle toes. This is still going to be easy."

Aang rolled the frozen globe along his arm and behind his head, catching it once more in his other hand. "We'll see," he smirked.

He started moving in a circle around Toph, waiting for her to make a move. She started to repeatedly stomp on the floor, a number of blunt spikes bursting from the ground aimed at the globe. Aang weaved himself through her attacks, tossing the ball of frozen water between hands as he kept circling her.

"Not fast enough," Aang called.

Toph gritted her teeth and broke into a run, moving along with Aang. She lowered herself and raked the floor with her hand, sending pieces of floor debris toward him. She was surprised however when he didn't even try to dodge. She felt the globe get hit, but it did not shatter.

"Not strong enough."

Toph growled, thinking that the task was a bit more challenging than what she had first thought. She had to add more power, but that would compromise her speed. And if she goes any slower than her last attack, she knew Aang would be able to dodge it. Of course there was the choice of cornering him with tactics, but she would never do that, not now. There was a lesson to be learned, and the only way to learn it was by doing things properly.

_Come on, Toph. Remember what Twinkle toes said. Exagerrated motion, a degree of imbalance._

She thrust her heel into the floor, knocking a tile into a standing position. Instead of the usual straightforward punch she would do to move earth, she spun on her heel, giving the chunk of stone a roundhouse kick similar to Aang's during training that morning. Aang was only just able to roll away, clutching the globe protectively.

Deciding not to give him any ground, she continued her attack. She dug her toes into the ground, pushing off and quickly closing the distance between her and Aang. She jumped forward, skidding her bare feet across the floor and causing multiple spikes to erupt from the floor. Not able to find a way out, Aang tossed the globe high up into the air, dodged the earthen spikes, and caught the globe just before it crashed to the floor.

Still feeling a bit of momentum from her jump, she used it to spin herself and dig a fist into the ground. Three decent-sized boulders jumped up into the air. She lifted herself into a handstand, and using the spin and pull of gravity, kicked the three boulders toward Aang before she completely lost balance.

Unfortunately, the move left Toph too far out of balance. After all, she had never attempted a handstand before that. She fell flat on her back with a grunt.

"Not bad at all." Aang stepped next to her, smiling broadly. In his hands were the shattered remains of the ice globe. "It was kinda a lucky hit though."

"Pfft, luck had nothing to do with it," she said proudly, sitting up. "Though the lesson was a bit tougher than I thought," she admitted.

"Well, try not to learn to fast or I might not be able to keep ahead of you," he joked.

"Please, it goes without saying that I will get ahead of you. Just try to put it off for as long as you can."

Before Aang could respond, a loud voice roared from somewhere in the temple. "Aang! Firebending! Now!"

"I thought he said we were done for today," Aang groaned. He got up to his feet. "Well, better go before he torches something he's not supposed to."

"Yeah, like Snoozles."

Zuko's voice roared again, "Aang!"

This time, a voice answered it with equal volume. "Would you quiet down, Zuko!" Katara yelled. "I'm trying to practice my bending!"

Sensing another fight about to start between Water and Fire, Aang sat down again. "You know what? Maybe it's safer if I stay here."

Toph simply chuckled beside him.

* * *

A/N: First of all, thanks to itsSwitzerlish and AvatarAiris for the ideas in this chapter.

Hm, I'm not sure of this chapter. I had to really specualte on the bending logic. It made a lot of sense in my head, but not sure if I was able to communicate the idea properly. And action is a bit hard for me to write. I think I managed to do the chapter well enough though. Review please!


	14. Control

A/N: I'm really, really, really sorry! It's been over a month, hasn't it? Well, excuses later, here's the latest lesson!

* * *

**Control**

Toph was wandering around the Western Air Temple, looking for a certain monk. Giving the floor a firm stomp, she sorted out the vibrations, feeling where he was.

"The fountain, huh..." she muttered. Jumping up with a slight hop, she let herself fall through the floor into the area below, leaving a hole in the fountain hall's ceiling.

Aang looked up at the sound of crumbling rock. "Oh! Hey, Toph."

"Hey, Twinkle toes," she greeted. "Up for some training?"

A few weird vibrations were suddenly emitted from Aang. Toph raised an eyebrow at this but let it go for the moment. "Actually, Toph, I'm really behind on my firebending, so maybe I'll just-"

"Hang on," Toph cut in. "Are you saying you'd rather train your firebending with Sparky than train with me?"

"Um, well, yea-no! I mean, not really! It's just that... you know... er..."

"Twinkle toes? What's up with you? You're acting weirder than usual."

"Er, it's nothing!" he responded, a little too quickly. "Oh, I think that's Sparky- I mean Zuko calling me. Gotta go!" Aang immediately bended an air scooter, hopped on, and rushed away, leaving Toph alone in the hall.

"What's up with that?"

-x-

Toph was irritated. That was the simplest and nicest way to put it. She was pissed off is a more accurate and appropriate description, judging from the temple's destruction and debris, the results of her self training.

For the past few days, Aang had been avoiding her. If he was trying to be subtle about it, it really didn't show. Whenever she approached him to ask for training, he would stutter an excuse and air scooter away. Even in casual coversations, he was shying away.

Whatever was going on, Toph had already gotten enough of it. She stomped her way through the temple toward the campsite.

-x-

Aang, on the other hand, wasn't exactly doing to well either.

"Aang, you know I honestly had your best interests at heart," Katara said gently. "I know I was being a little troublesome-"

Zuko suddenly erupted into a coughing fit. Katara shot him one of her icy glares.

"Okay, fine. Very troublesome. But I wasn't trying to say that you shouldn't spend any time together with Toph."

"Um, Katara-"

"I was just being... cautious of the possible consequences. It isn't a reason for you to avoid her."

"Katara-"

"So now, I want you to spend some extra special time with her okay? I'm sure she would appreciate that."

"But Katara-"

"Don't worry, I won't spy on you this time." Zuko erupted into another coughing fit. "Okay, I might check in every now and then-" Zuko's coughing grew even more violent. "Okay, okay! I'll keep an eye on you two but I won't get in the way unless I deem your actions to be... inappropriate."

"Yeah, don't worry Aang," Sokka reassured him. "Sis will have to go through me and Zuko before she gets to you two."

"Hah! Doesn't sound like much to go through," she taunted.

"Guys! Listen!" Aang practically shouted. "I'm not avoiding Toph because of Katara."

"Then why are you avoiding her?" Zuko asked.

"It's... complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it."

Aang froze at the sound of_ her _voice. How could she have snuck up on him? She was supposed to be the loudest in their group. He turned slowly and met Toph's irritated glare.

"You're coming with me right now." She grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him off. Aang didn't even put up a fight. He knew it would be useless.

Katara, Sokka, and Zuko watched the pair leave. "That was sweet," Katara cooed. "Er, you know, in Toph's weird kind of way."

-x-

"Toph, could you let go please?"

"No."

"But you see, I was talking to the others, and it would be really rude to-"

"Would you shut up for a bit Twinkle toes? I'm trying to think of how to tell you off."

Aang raised an eyebrow in confusion but complied.

"Listen, Twinkle toes." Aang perked up at Toph's gentle yet firm tone as she continued to pull at his collar. "Okay, so I get that you have problems, that there's something complicating stuff, but I thought that you would know better than to let that kinda stuff really bother you." Her cheeks suddenly flushed a little pink. "I thought... well, that you wouldn't let it get in the way of... you know, our stuff."

Aang's brain was currently short circuited by the words that came out of Toph's mouth. It's not that they weren't Toph-ish. It's not like she had gone completely sappy and melodramatic. It was just how she said those words, completely honest. It was... refreshing.

"Toph, I-"

"Shut it," she snapped. "I'm not done yet. I can't finish with that, it would make me feel too sappy."

Aang smiled to himself and obeyed, waiting for her to continue.

"You've been teaching me for a while, but I started teaching you first. And do you remember the first thing I hammered into that air-filled head of yours?"

Aang answered immediately, it was an automatic answer. "Rock-like."

"Good. It looks like we won't have to beat that into you again. If you have a problem, don't let it move you, don't let it get to you, don't let it get between you and others. Be rock-like and stand strong."

Toph released her grip on his collar, pushing him back a couple of steps. "Now, have I uncomplicated things enough for you?"

Aang smiled softly. "Yeah, pretty much."

"So..." Toph started.

He already knew what to say. "...do you want to get started on your next lesson Toph?"

-x-

They had moved to the courtyard, which still bore a few marks of Toph's interference in Zuko's training. The usual air between the two twelve year olds was back, a mixture of lighthearted fun and mayhem.

"So, let's get started pupil Toph."

"Already? No more pain in the butt questions of asking me what my lesson is? Or have you just gotten tired of it?" Toph teased.

"Well, this lesson is more of characteristic in firebending as its own, and not defined by the other elements. I doubt you could figure it out yourself," Aang said, smirking.

"Alright, alright. So what are we gonna do?"

Aang hit the ground with an open palm. A large thick pillar came up the ground, standing as tall as seven feet high. "You're going to make a sculpture," Aang said with a big smile.

"Twinkle toes, art stuff is for people who can see. Guess what?" She waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Oh come on, art doesn't just belong to sight. It can be found in every other sense. Like cooking!" Aang said, remembering their cooking session.

"Okay fine. But what does this have to do with firebending?" Toph asked, making a motion to step toward the stone slab.

Aang put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "Hold up. You're gonna sculpt that thing from here. Oh, and with as few movements as possible."

Toph stared at Aang with her sightless eyes, an expression of disbelief on her face. "I'm ten feet away."

"I know."

"How am I suppose to control my bending enough to sculpt at this distance?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, That's the challenge, because the lesson is about control. Last time, I taught you how to draw energy by throwing yourself out of balance. But because of this, you also lose control of your own bending to some extent. This lesson is to master your control over the element. You need to know exactly how much energy you need for every movement. No more, no less than what you really need. This way, even when throwing yourself out of balance during firebending movements, you have as much control as possible."

Toph nodded. As usual, she didn't really understand everything Aang said, but she got enough to know how it would help her bending.

She spread her feet, with her palms turned upward. She was about to start when she suddenly paused.

"Um, what am I supposed to sculpt?"

Aang chuckled. "You're the sculptor. You tell me."

Toph crossed her arms, thinking a moment. She was blind for crying out loud, how was she supposed to know what's good to sculpt. Her first thought was to sculpt herself. She palmed her face, feeling its exact shape. But then she realized that she would have to do her hair as well, which she figured would be pretty hard to do since it moved, making its shape hard to figure out. Though she was confident in her earthbending abilities, she figured it would be best not to embarass herself by making an ill-shapen replica of herself.

So she turned her thoughts to other ideas.

_Hmm, since hair is the main problem, maybe..._

"Twinkle toes, come here a minute," Toph ordered.

Aang stood from where he was watching his pupil and approached Toph. "Something wrong?"

He was surprised when Toph suddenly grabbed his collar with her left hand and with started palming his face with her right.

"Toph?"

"Quit squirming would you?" There was a slight tint of pink on her cheeks as she felt each groove of Aang's face. She couldn't believe she was actually touching someone like this. Neither could Aang.

"But-" Aang could feel his face heat up as she continued to palm his face, the top of his head, and so on.

"I said quit squirming! You're the only one in the group who doesn't have any hair, so you'll be the easiest to sculpt."

Being presented with an appropriate reason, Aang shut his mouth and put up no further resistance other than the red in his cheeks. And Toph, cheeks also red, continued to palm Aang, taking in his details.

"Let go!" Katara hissed, struggling against the arms of both Zuko and Sokka. "I said I would interfere as soon as there was any inappropriate activity, and I will!"

"Come on, Katara!" Sokka pleaded in an exasprated tone. "They're not doing anything wrong."

"She's feeling him up!" she said fiercely.

"Just the face!" Sokka countered.

"Actually," Zuko said, "she's moving to his chest now."

Katara turned to the scene, and Toph was indeed moving her hands to Aang's chest. Seeing this, she doubled her efforts in escaping the boys' grasp. It still wasn't enough though, and the two managed to hold her back. Knowing that sooner or later, Katara would resort to bending, Zuko took the initiative and pulled Sokka's belt, using it to tie Katara's hands together behind her back. Though he had the misfortune of seeing Sokka's underpants, he succeeded in subduing the waterbender.

"Okay," Zuko turned to Sokka, who was holding up his pants with his hands. "I'll take your sister back to camp, and you keep an eye on those two. If Toph starts going below the waist, step in."

Sokka nodded, and as he watched the two leave, he tried to push back the thought of what Katara would do to them once she's set free.

Fortunately, it hadn't reached the point where Sokka had to step in. When Toph had reached Aang's waist, both their faces were a bright red. After receiving a decent amount of Katara's 'talk', both of them thought that it was better to stop there. Toph mumbled something about just sculpting Aang's upper body and he quickly agreed.

Shaking her head clear, Toph took her earthbending stance ten feet away from the stone pillar. She brought her hands down in a slicing motion, chipping off decent amount of the rock. Now that she had gotten rid of the excess, she started to move carefully. She thrust her fists forward slowly, chipping off the sculpture bit by bit.

Aang watched Toph with a smile on his face. It was rare to see Toph with such a serious and concentrated face. And the sculpture was really turning out nicely too. Aang's cheeks reddened once more, wondering how much Toph was concentrating on his figure.

Toph continued her exercise, not letting herself get distracted. She concentrated, forming an image of Aang in her mind, the bump that was his nose, his slightly big ears, his chest... Toph blushed. Maybe she had overdone it with the image.

But the exercise really was challenging. More than once, Toph had nearly chipped off more than she had to. And since Aang had told her to use as few movements as possible, she couldn't settle with many little movements. She really had to control just how much energy to use for each move. The distance didn't help either, because it meant she had to be even more precise with her movements.

Hours passed, the only noise in the courtyard being the sound of crumbling rock every few seconds. Finally, just as the sun was about to set, Toph stepped back, admiring her work. Aang got up and stood beside her looking at her sculpture with a big smile.

Carved into a stone pillar that stood ten feet in front of them, was an accurate replica of Aang's upper body. True, the arrows were missing, and a few features were off a bit, but it really was well done.

"So? What do you think?" Toph asked with a confident smirk.

"It's great," Aang said, smiling. "Might have overdone the ears though."

"Hey, I sculpt 'em as I felt 'em." The two of them laughed.

Aang turned to face Toph. "Well done with your lesson pupil Toph."

Toph played along, taking a slightly serious tone as well. "No problem, Sifu Aang."

"And now," Aang took a deep breath. "I have nothing left to teach you."

Toph's playful attitude disappeared immediately. "What?" she asked weakly.

Aang smiled gently, a bit sadly, and looked to the sunset. "You see, the reason I was avoiding you was because I knew that this was going to be the last lesson. I knew I had to teach you eventually but I guess... I wanted to be your Sifu even for a little bit longer."

Toph remained silent. Was what he was saying really true? Did she really have no more lessons to learn from Aang?

"But you really beat that out of me. You made me see that I was being selfish, avoiding you just so that I could stay as your Sifu. Actually makes me kinda feel guilty," Aand said, smiling weakly.

"Anyway, I was really happy that you let me teach you bending," he continued. "It was really fun, I always kept on looking forward to our lessons. I kept on thinking: 'What would be a fun lesson for Toph?' and 'What would be a good way to teach Toph?'. It was that fun, so fun that I put all I have in making those lessons for you."

Aang turned to Toph, giving her one of his best smiles. "So, to thank you for letting me teach you, to apologize for avoiding you, and to celebrate you completeing each of your lessons, let's have a party! Come on, let's call the others!"

Aang reached forward and took Toph's hand in his, pulling her toward the campsite. Toph followed silently behind, only one thought going through her mind:

_Is it really over?_

* * *

A/N: Once again, I'm really sorry about the late update. School got in the way, then I found some manga to read, then some books, and I completely lost my momentum in writing. Took a while to get back in the rhythm

Anyway, hopefully I've got an announcement to make up for my tardiness! As you know, next is the last chapter of the story. But wait, there's more! Next is the last chapter of the story, but not the last chapter of this fic! Because I love this fic so much, and it received quite a bit of attention, I've decided to make an extra chapter, which will contain a bunch of short stories of nonbending lessons!

Why am I announcing it? Because I want you guys to suggest as many ideas as you can! Just give me your idea of a nonbending lesson and/or how to teach it and you can be sure I'll consider it. Nonbending lesson meaning any lesson not directly related to bending. For example, the fruit pie cooking lesson will be here (always wanted to write that).

These are the ideas I have so far:

-fruit pies (from chapter 8)

-flute

-Pai Sho

-steering/grooming Appa

-picking and mixing herbs (from chapter 9)

Anything idea at all! Just remember, it's Aang teaching Toph a nonbending lesson. All ideas will be credited, showing who suggested it.

The extra chapter will be posted along with the final chapter, meaning double post next time! Unfortunately, this also might mean it will take a while. But rest assured, no way I'm abandoning this fic, especially if I get a lot of suggestions. Review please, and tell me your ideas!


	15. Life Lesson

A/N: Yeah, I've got no excuses again, and I'm not even done with all the extra lessons, so I'm really sorry! I can excuse myself for the first two weeks probably (being hospitalized and stuff) but this is still pretty late. Anyway, I've got an explanation later, so go on ahead! :D

* * *

**Life Lesson**

The sky glowed a gentle light at the horizon, the sun slowly creeping above it. It was a quiet morning, despite the snores that echoed in a certain hall of the Western Air Temple. One person was already awake though, and was uncharacteristically quiet.

Toph laid back against the side of her rock tent. The dark circles under her eyes showed that she hadn't been able to sleep much. She knew something was bothering her. She knew that something was connected to Aang saying that she was done with her lessons with him. But she honestly didn't know why it bothered her so. All she knew was that she didn't like it and she was going to do something about it.

That's why while eating breakfast, she spoke up, "Hey Twinkle toes, wanna train later?"

Aang stopped chewing his breakfast, his mouth hanging open in slight confusion. Katara gave him a gentle smack on the arm, reminding him of his manners. He swallowed the food in his mouth and was about to speak when Toph cut him off.

"I know you said I'm done with you lessons," she continued, maybe a bit too quickly. As embarrassing as it was, she had actually rehearsed the conversation in her head while waiting for everyone to wake up. "But just because you've taught me the lessons doesn't mean I'm done with training, right? Practice makes perfect and all that."

"Listen, Toph," Zuko said with the tone of a patient parent. "Aang needs to learn firebending. He isn't even done with half the things I have to teach him. I let him use his free time to teach you because it helped him relax and refresh himself with the other elements. But time is running short and I'll have to train him as much as I can now."

"But what about-"

Zuko interrupted her, "I've seen you two train. It seems to me that you've already grown sufficiently. And since Aang's already taught you all the lessons, it means that you can do self-training now."

"But..." Toph didn't know what to say anymore. This wasn't exactly how she expected the conversation to turn out. She turned to Aang, hoping he would say something. But he didn't. There was a glazed look in his eyes, as if he were concentrating on a certain thought. Everyone finished their breakfast quietly.

-x-

Toph was at the ledge where she had first flown a glider, lying flat on her back with her hands laced behind her head. It was her favorite spot to meditate, but even though she was trying, she couldn't put herself in that meditative trance that she enjoyed. She knew why.

Her lessons were over, just like Aang had said on her last day. Aang no longer showed up at the usual hour to pester her about some bending principle that she would barely understand, nagging her to do some impossible and/or embarrasing exercise which would somehow miraculously help her learn what Aang was trying to teach her in the first place. In fact, Aang seemed like he no longer had any time for her. The few times they had talked, it had only been a few minutes, and he would leave saying that there was something he had to do. Listening to him, he wasn't lying, but that wasn't what really bothered her. It sounded like things were perfectly normal for him.

It was frustrating. Why did it feel like her world was being turned upside-down? And why did she feel so bothered that Aang wasn't bothered? Not only that, it had been what, just three days? And here she was, lying around doing nothing. What _did_ she do before the times Aang had started training her? She couldn't really recall, but she was sure that she was in a better position then than she was now.

She let out a deep sigh. Did her lessons with Aang really mean that much to her? She had just taken them because she thought it would pass the time and help with her bending a bit. It shouldn't mean anything to her that those lessons are done.

She got to her feet, determined not to let whatever was going on beat her. She took in a deep breath.

"I don't care that my lessons are over!" she shouted into the canyon.

She stood still, listening to the echoes bounce off the canyon walls. She let herself fall onto her back.

"Dammit..." she cursed, her voice cracking slightly. "I'm lying."

-x-

Katara was roaming through the halls and corridors of the Western Air Temple. She had been poking her head into each and every hall that she came across ever since Toph had disappeared right after Aang and Zuko had left that morning. She had been disappearing quite often recently, and only came back for meals. And whenever she did see her, Toph would have this strange faraway look in her sightless eyes. Katara knew instinctively that something was wrong, and probably had a guess or two as to what that something was. So, letting her inner mother guide her, she had sought after Toph to have a little chat.

The waterbender stopped awhile, letting herself catch her breath. She had no idea how big the temple actually was. Weren't Air Nomads supposed to detatch themselves from material possesions? Why did they need such a large temple? She was about to resume her search when she heard something.

_"I don't care that my lessons are over!"_

Katara followed the source of the voice. Stepping into the open ended hall, she found Toph lying on her back by the ledge. Katara approached her, letting her footsteps announce her presence.

"What do you want, Sugar Queen?" From the sound of her voice, she was already quite irritable and not in the mood. But Katara hadn't searched half the temple just to back down now.

"You're lucky Aang's on the other side of the temple right now. He would've been hurt if he heard that."

"So what?" she scoffed.

Katara took a seat next to Toph. "Can I ask what's bothering you?"

"No."

Katara sighed. Toph was just way too stubborn for her own good.

"What you shouted just now, is that what's wrong?"

"No."

Katara eyed the younger girl. "Hm, yes, I suppose that's true."

Toph turned to face Katara with a confused expression. "What?"

"I said: I suppose that's true."

Toph sat up, that confused expression still on her face. "What's with you, Sugar Queen? I thought you would be going on and on about how that really was the problem."

"That's because it isn't. Or rather, it isn't the main problem."

"What are you talking about?" Of course it was the problem! What else could it be?

"You miss spending time with Aang."

Toph sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you Sugar Queen, it isn't what you think."

"Fine, you're just friends, but that doesn't mean that you won't miss spending time with Aang."

Toph crossed her arms, putting on a defiant look. Her mind was thinking about what she said though. Was that really what was bothering her? She mumbled the thought silently to herself. Though she didn't want to admit it, it didn't feel like a lie.

"Okay," Toph faceed straight toward Katara, "if I did miss spending time with Twinkle toes, which by the way I'm not saying I am, what difference would it make?"

"Everything."

"You wanna explain?"

"Well, why would you miss a person in the first place?"

"I asked you a question first!"

"My answer is a question," Katara responded calmly.

"I don't know!" Toph was clearly getting frustrated. She let herself fall back onto the floor again, crossing her arms.

"Listen, Toph." Katara's voice was gentle, really like a mother comforting a child. It helped lessen Toph's edge, even if just a bit. "The only way I can help you is if you are completely honest. So I'll ask you again: Why would you miss spending time with Aang?"

Toph sat up, setting her chin on her knees. "Well, I guess because it was fun hanging out with him..."

"And the problem now is?"

"Isn't that obvious?" she shot back violently. "I can't hang out with him anymore!"

"Why not?" Despite it being a genuine question, it ticked Toph off to have to answer it.

"Because I've got no reason to do that anymore!" she yelled. "My lessons with him are over! I can't just hang around with him! The only reason we spent so much time together lately were because of those lessons! That's why now I can barely even talk to Aang, let alone hang out with him! He's too busy nowadays! Even when he's not firebending, he keeps on saying that he has something else to do!" She took in a deep breath. "He has no reason to spend time with me, and I have no reason to spend time with him..."

Toph was breathing heavily, as if some valve had opened inside of her, letting everything out. She felt a dizzying sensation, that by saying such things, she had mentally knocked herself about.

Katara on the other hand, had put on a stern face. She walked over to Toph and slapped her across the face.

Toph stood there, momentarily stunned, clutching her red cheek. "What the heck was that for?" she yelled.

"Aang's not here to beat some sense into you so I'll have to do it for now," she said seriously.

"What? Twinkle toes wouldn't dare-"

"Oh yes he would!" Katara retaliated. "He might hesitate for a second or two but he would definitely try to beat some sense into you. Especially if he heard you just now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you even realize how much you're not acting like yourself?"

Toph faltered for a second but she managed to recover. She was not going to lose this argument to Katara. "Shut up! Who are you to say that?"

"I'm your friend! And that's why I said that Aang would do the same!"

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Toph looked like she was close to earthbending. If it weren't for Aang's lessons on meditation, she would have already.

Katara breathed deeply. She got a bit carried away there, but she really did mean what she just said. Reigning in her emotions before a fight breaks out, she put a gentle hand on Toph's shoulder.

"Listen, Toph. Did you even hear yourself just now?"

Toph remained quiet, crossing her arms with a silent defiance. She had no idea what Katara was talking about and she sure as hell wasn't going to cooperate with her.

Katara sighed. She knew it wasn't going to be easy, but she didn't think Toph would have such an immature reaction. Maybe she had better try another method.

"I guess Aang taught you airbending a little too well."

Toph shot a glare to the motherly waterbender. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why? Weren't you the one who said that airbenders are wimpy? I mean, look at you right now. Acting like that because of a problem that has a simple solution. To think that you were the one who taught Aang to face things head on." She paused, making sure that Toph was listening. "You sure have changed, Toph."

"People change when they learn something new," Toph retorted.

"Not the way you did. When people learn something new, they change in a way that they become more of themselves. What they learn becomes a new part of who they really are. You, on the other hand, have completely changed. You're not even yourself anymore."

"THAT'S IT!" Toph had finally snapped. She had held back so far but she wasn't going to let this overly mothering waterbender talk that way to her anymore. She reached over to Katara and grabbed her by the collar, bringing her down face to face.

"Listen here, Sugar Queen. You've gotten away with talking to me like that only because I've let you. And if you keep yapping with that big, stupid mouth of yours, I'll show you just exactly what Twinkle toes has been teaching me these days."

"Oh yeah?" It was a good thing Toph was blind, or she would have been thrown off by the fact that Katara was smiling. "And I suppose that whatever you say goes? That whatever you want, you'll get?"

"That's right! Because I'm Toph Bei Fong, the world's greatest earthbender, the world's only metalbender, _and_ the world's only airbending, waterbending, firebending earthbender!"

Katara couldn't help it. She tried to suppress it but couldn't. She laughed out loud.

"What?" Toph snarled.

"Nothing, it's just that I'm glad you're back to normal," she answered, smiling. "Oh, and for future reference, you might wanna shorten your title just a bit."

Toph smiled as well, even if just a bit. Katara was right, she did feel like herself again. She definitely felt a lot better. But that still left one problem...

"So what are you going to do about Aang?" Katara asked.

"Er... yeah..." Toph mumbled, scratching her head. "...I still have no idea..."

"Come on, Toph! I got you riled up for this! You just said it earlier; what you want, you get! And you want Aang right?"

Toph couldn't help but turn red at how Katara had worded it. "Erm, Sugar Queen, don't say it like that, okay? It's all kinds of wrong."

Katara rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever. Point is, you have fun spending time with Aang, so why not go and do just that?"

"I already told you, I don't have a-"

"Let me tell you something, Toph," Katara interrupted. "There are certain things that don't need a reason. This is one of them. You don't need a reason to go and have fun with someone. Two friends can hang out for absolutely no reason at all, can't they?"

"Well... yeah, I guess..."

"Good. Now come on."

"Wha-?" Katara reached and grabbed Toph by the wrist, pulling her across and out of the hall. "Sugar Queen! Where are you taking me?"

Katara smirked. "You already know where."

-x-

Aang was performing an advanced firebending sequence when his ears picked up echoing sounds in the corridor outside the practice hall.

"Would you stop struggling?"

"Katara, I swear, I am going to earthbend at you if you don't let me go right now!"

"Why are you even putting up a fight? You need to talk to Aang, right?"

"Shut up! I'll do it when I'm good and ready."

"Don't be a wimp! Just talk to-"

"What are you two doing?"

Zuko's voice joined the two girls outside the hall. Aang figured that something was going to happen, which would definitely be more interesting than repeating some drill for the hundredth time. Stopping himself midway of a flaming roundhouse kick, he slowly creeped over to the entrance. There was no need to let Zuko know he was slacking off.

As he peeked out of the doorway, Aang saw the two girls being confronted by a very irate firebender.

"I'll ask again: What are you two doing?"

Katara quickly shoved Toph in front of her, both as proof and protection. "Toph has something to say to Aang."

Zuko raised his good eyebrow questioningly. "Something important?"

"Well, maybe not that-"

"Yep, it's definitely important," Katara interrupted.

Toph shot Katara another one of her glares, though she knew that the mothering waterbender had grown resistant to it lately.

"Will it be quick?" Zuko asked.

"Might not be. Do you think you could let Aang off for the rest of the day?"

"I don't know... It's just a few hours past midday..."

"Come on, Zuko. Let Aang off for a bit," Katara pleaded. "Just for this afternoon."

Zuko eyed the two of them with suddenly suspicious eyes. "You're going to take him by force if I refuse, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"If Sugar Queen says so."

Zuko sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll call him."

"He's already there," Toph said. "Come on out, Twinkle toes."

_Note to self: never eavesdrop on Toph_, Aang thought as he stepped out of the hall.

"Well, you heard them," Zuko said. "Lessons are done for today."

"Good! Now we'll leave you two alone." Katara then proceeded to yank Zuko away by the arm, pulling him away from the scene.

"Wait! Sugar Queen!"

"Go on! You can do it!" she called over her shoulder. "Rock-like!"

The words hit Toph like lightning. _That's right, rock-like! You can do this, Toph!_

As soon as Katara and Zuko rounded the nearest corner, Toph turned to Aang, brimming with a sudden confidence.

"Listen up, Twinkle toes! I-"

She suddenly faltered, as if the words got caught in her throat. Aang could see her eyes widen in shock and panic. She suddenly turned to the other end of the corridor.

"SUGAR QUEEN! We never discussed this! What the hell am I supposed to say?"

A voice echoed from beyond the corner. "Just tell him what you told me! Everything!"

"WHAT? No way I'm gonna tell him that!"

"Just say it! You're already there!"

"I'm only here beacause you dragged me!"

Though it was very interesting to watch Toph with 'the voice beyond the corner', Aang decided it wouldn't be good to get Toph more riled up than she already was. He stepped toward Toph and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Toph, while you think about whatever that is, would come with me for a bit?"

-x-

Though it had taken awhile to stop Toph from continuing the argument, Aang had finally succeeded in moving Toph. They were now roaming parts of the temple that were unfamiliar to her.

"Where are we?" Toph asked.

"We're in the temple workshop."

"And what are we doing here?"

"Hang on a minute."

Aang went to a table at the far end of the hall. Fiddling about the shelves a little bit, he found what he was looking for, and headed back to Toph.

"Here," he said, holding it out. "This is for you."

"Um, thanks." Toph took the object in her hands, trying to feel what it is. It just felt like a long piece of wood. "What is it?"

Aang smiled. "It's your glider. Don't you remember? I told you that airbending masters make the staff that they give to their pupils."

Toph's grip on what she had thought to be a simple rod of wood suddenly became a lot more gentle. Slowly, she traced her fingertips along its length, taking in as much detail as she could with all the tenderness she could muster.

"Sorry it took so long," Aang apologized. "It took a while to find all the materials. And I had to use all my breaks from Zuko's training to finally get it done."

Realization suddenly dawned on Toph. "Oh... so this is what you've been doing? You know, when we talk, and then you say there's something you have to do?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking you see. Since our lessons are over, and now that Zuko's been training me practically nonstop, I won't have time to train or even just hang out with you. Even though I want to ditch firebending training, I have a responsibility that I can't let go of."

He turned to a nearby table and picked up his own staff. "You know, I really miss our lessons. They were so much fun, it took away all my worries of the war." He sighed deeply. "But the war is something I can't forget, nor will I allow myself to forget it. I'll do everything I have to, I'll even train day and night nonstop, to make sure this all ends right."

Toph felt a pang of guilt stike her. To think she was just about to talk to Aang earlier about hanging out together more. Now that she looked back on it, she felt so selfish. She was shaken out of her thoughts when Aang started speaking again.

"But that's why these moments are so important! I know I can't always hang out with the people I want to. I know moments I can get a break from my responsibilities may be rare. That's why the time that I do get to spend with you, and with everyone, I want to make it something to remember."

He turned to Toph and gave her a big smile. "We can't always be together, so we should make the times we are count for something, right?"

Toph found herself smiling as well. Who knew that a twelve year old simple-minded monk could have such profound thoughts. She knew now that she didn't have to ask Aang to hang out more. Because she knew that all times, no matter how few the moments are, they would always make the most of that time given to them.

"Oh, Toph, I almost forgot. You had something to say to me? Have you thought about it?"

Toph smiled, shaking her head. "Nah, it's nothing. Forget about it."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

Aang smiled. "Okay, if you say so."

"That's right, because what I say goes," she smirked. She tapped her staff to the ground impatiently. "So, are we going to give this thing a test flight or what?"

"Thought you would never ask."

-x-

Two pairs of wings soared in the sky. One pair was orange; the other pair was green. Between them, the gentle wind carried their voices.

"Hey, Twinkle toes! What's an Avatar?"

Aang raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about? I'm the Avatar."

"Yeah, I know that. But I'm asking what, not who."

"Well, the Avatar is the keeper of balance, master of the four elements-"

"Does that mean I'm an Avatar too?"

"Huh?"

"Hellooo, master of the four elemnets here," Toph called, pointing to herself.

"Hah! You haven't _mastered_ the four elements!"

"Oh, like you've mastered them. You've got a long way to go in your earthbending!"

"Fine, fine. But you've got a point there. The only thing you're missing from being Avatar is the actual bending and the spirit world stuff." Aang paused, thinking a moment. "Hey, when the war is over, you wanna be co-Avatar?"

Toph couldn't help but laugh. "Co-Avatar?"

"Yeah! So that when the Avatar is unable to perform his duties, the co-Avatar will step in. You know, just in case someone gets stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years or something like that."

"Ha! I don't think I like the idea of being your side-kick," she teased.

"You won't be my side-kick! You'll be more of a... partner!"

Toph smiled. It was an interesting thought at the very least. "Sure, why not? You better watch out though. Your partner is going to be even more famous than the Avatar himself."

Aang laughed. "We'll see."

They glided across the sky, with only the wind whistling in their ears. Two pairs of wings, one orange, one green, flowing together with the wind.

* * *

A/N: There! The story's final chapter! Katara got quite a spotlight here, no? It actually almost ended up entirely her lesson to teach. But Aang managed to pull through with his own lesson after getting inspiration from Hayner of Kingdom Hearts II (love that game).

I originally planned for there to be some kind of epic fight between the two, Aang using all four elements, but I couldn't find a place to put it properly. Besides, I realized that in the fight, Toph would proabably just be repeating her other fight scenes in this story, since I'm not that great at writing action. Actually, I think it's better without the fight. It didn't feel like it fits with how the chapter goes anyway.

On to the extra chapter!


	16. Extra Lessons

A/N: In case you just pressed the arrow thingy at the start, you just skipped a chapter. Today's a douple post! Again, sorry for being late.

* * *

**The Extra Lessons**

Fruit Pie Lesson

_(Occurs between chapters 8 and 9)_

For a hundred years, the Western Air Temple remained unused, yet it continued keeping the knowledge and wisdom of the airbenders. Now that Aang's group had taken refuge here, parts of the temple were being slowly rediscovered. Which was Aang and Toph were doing right now.

The duo were in the temple's kitchen at the moment. Toph was lazily listening to Aang ramble on about the Air Nomad's 'Hundred Easy Recipes' as she continued to stir the bowl of fruit cream they had just made. She was listening, but she was doing it only because tuning out Aang would take out a lot more energy. She had always considered cooking as something the seeing people did.

"The secret of this recipe is in the gooey center." Aang looked over at Toph, noticing that she wasn't paying much attention. "Let's see what we got."

He leaned over and took a fingerful of cream, bringing it to his mouth and sucked on it. His face shone with the joy every kid has when eating something sweet. "It's great!" he exclaimed. "Taste it, Toph!"

She shrugged him off. "No thanks, sweets aren't my thing."

"But we made this together," he whined. If Toph could see, she knew she would be looking at a pouty face Aang.

"So what?"

"Have a taste," he persisted.

"No."

"C'mon, try it!"

"No!"

"Just a little!"

"Are you deaf Twinkle toes? I said-"

Toph was silenced when a cream covered finger suddenly entered her mouth. Aang smirked with satisfaction as soon as he saw her expression soften and a little pink color her cheeks. But that was before he jerked his finger back out of her mouth.

"Ow! You bit me!"

"And you stuck your finger in your mouth! Why the heck would you even do that?"

"Because you kept on saying no," Aang mumbled, nursing his finger. "Besides, you looked like you enjoyed it..."

"What?" Toph reached forward and grabbed Aang by the collar. Was he actually stupid enough to insinuate that she enjoyed having his finger in her mouth?

"What's wrong? I just said that you seemed to like sweets more than you let on."

Toph let go off Aang, her cheeks a little more flushed. Either Aang had to do something about his wording, or she had to fix how she interpreted stuff.

Aang smirked, crossing his arms. "So? Does Tophy have a sweet tooth or not?"

"Shut up! This is exactly why I don't tell anyone I like sweets!"

"Why? Because it doesn't fit the macho image of world's greatest earthbender?"

"Yeah, that's exactly why so-" She was shut up again when Aang shoved another cream-covered finger in her mouth. This time though, he was quick to pull back, just in case Toph bit him again. He observed her face, cheeks flushed pink while she savored every moment of sweet goodness. Toph even looked like she was close to purring. He never knew she liked sweets so much.

"You like sweets, so what? What others say don't matter, just do your own thing. And, erm..." Aang leaned in closer, lowering his voice. "I'm not exactly supposed to say this being an airbender and all, but if anyone has a problem with that, go ahead and teach them a lesson."

Toph smiled. "All right then." She promptly adjusted her hold on the bowl of fruit cream and slammed it into Aang's face. "That'll teach you to shove your finger in my mouth!"

It took them three more food fights before they actually finished something edible. By the looks of things when the duo were done, the Western Air Temple's kitchen can never be used again.

* * *

Flute Lesson

_(Insertable anywhere after chapter 4)_

Aang was spending his free time relaxing himself by playing the flute. He had found a few more songs to play and had already finished memorizing the pieces. Not too far away, Toph was also relaxing herself, meditating as she absorbed the sounds of Aang's flute.

Aang suddenly stopped, an idea coming to him. Toph, noticing the melody disappear, opened her eyes and looked over at his direction.

"What's up?"

"I just thought, you like listening to the flute, right?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Well, do you want me to teach you how?"

"Twinkle toes, maybe I-"

But Aang was too excited to listen. He moved next to her, placing the flute in her hands. Moving behind her, he held her by the hands, guiding her into the proper position.

"Er, Twinkle toes..." Toph couldn't help but notice he was practically embracing her. Still, Aang barely noticed this.

"Okay, you change the notes by covering these holes," he explained, moving her fingers along with his. "And this is how you change the tone, going up. Here, try blowing."

Toph pressed her lips to the mouthpiece of the flute and blew as hard as she could. What came out was something like a mouse's squeek and a bird being strangled.

Aang laughed. "Not like that, Toph. You have to blow gently." He took the flute in his hands and gave it a blow. A soft, gentle note resonated from the musical instrument. "See?"

"Alright, alright. Geez, you airbenders do everything softly huh?" Taking back the flute back from him, Toph tried again. Positioning her fingers properly, she put her lips to the mouthpiece once more and blew into the windpipe gently. This time, a long low note resonated from the flute.

Toph smiled. To be able to produce such a gentle and soft sound, even if it was just a single note, felt nice.

-x-

Toph and Aang sat back to back, resting against each other. Toph was playing a piece Aang had just taught her, while he was resting, laying his head back on the pillow of hair Toph had.

"Hey Twinkle toes, you're not falling asleep on me are ya?"

"Mmm... don't stop... it sounds nice..." It sounded like he was half-asleep already. Toph was only happy to resume playing and so she let him off for using her as a pillow.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" Toph paused a moment, acknowledging Sokka's prescence with a glare. She had enough taunts from the guy's sister and she was not going to take any more from him.

Sokka walked over with that walk full of confidence that no one knows where he gets it. He crouched down looking at the two of them closely.

"You two sure look comfy. Or at least Aang does. And you're being nice enough to let him use you as a pillow. How sweet."

Toph ignored both the annoying voice and the throbbing in her temple. She was playing the flute. Relax.

Sokka, still oblivious to the fact that he was still unharmed due to Toph's graciousness, stepped closer to Toph.

"By the way, is that Aang's flute? Because if it is, you know what that means..."

_Calm down, Toph. Don't let the idiot distract you. Relax. Relaaaax._

He leaned in closer to Toph's ear, wearing what Toph knew was a confident smirk. "...indirect kiss."

-x-

Aang groaned. He had been so comfortable. Where was that makeshift pillow of his? After yawning and rubbing his eyes open, he couldn't see Toph anywhere, couldn't hear any flute being played. What he did see was an entire hall obliterated. And what he did hear was a weak, injured, little voice coming from under the rubble.

"Aang... buddy... a little help..."

It had taken an hour to dig Sokka out, even with earthbending. Another part of the Western Air Temple will forever lay in ruins.

* * *

Pai Sho Lesson

_(Insertable anywhere after chapter 4)_

"Toph! Come see what I did!"

Toph opened her eyes and sighed. She had been having a really nice nap. But now that Aang was really excited about something, she knew she wouldn't be able to get as much as a wink unless she humored him a bit.

She lazily got up to her feet. She was going to hurt him if he woke her just to show off a new airbending trick. "Whaddaya want Twinkle toes?"

"Over here!" he yelled from the opposite hall.

Toph crossed the corridor to where Aang was. As she put her foot down in the hall, she noticed something different about the room.

"Where'd that table come from?"

"It's a Pai Sho Table I bended," Aang explained. "I even bended tiles!"

"Oh, okay." With that said, Toph turned on her heel and began walking toward the exit.

"Hey! Wait! Where are you going?"

"Back to sleep. You called me over to see what you did. I already did that, so good night."

She wasn't able to take another step because Aang had rushed over to block her path. "But I called you ever so we can play," he whined. "Besides, it'll help you learn how to concentrate better. And it's not even night yet!"

"I don't care," she said, trying to step past Aang. "I wanna sleep."

"But-!"

Toph managed to push him aside and step past him. She was actually surprised that he wasn't complaining as much as usual. But then he heard a very haughty voice.

"What's the matter? Are you... chicken?"

-x-

_I can't believe I fell for it again._

Toph and Aang were sitting opposite each other. In between them was a stone table in which lines were carved into with precise earthbending. On the table were small stone tablets, each with a figure etched into it. A stone Pai Sho set, made especially for a blind earthbender.

"...and this is the lotus tile. It can be put in these positions along with these tiles," Aang explained, showing her the places on the board and pointing to the corresponding pieces.

Toph yawned leaning forward on the table. "So? What do we do? Attack the other's pieces?"

"Wha-? Of course not!" Aang looked like that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. "Pai Sho isn't an aggressive game. The goal is to move and place down pieces until your opponent can't make a move anymore. It's a strategic game, where you use both your own and even your opponent's pieces against him!"

"Okay, okay..."

"Let's play a game then! You can go first." Aang began rearranging the tiles he had according to the strategy he had decided to use. He didn't want to brag but he was pretty good at the game. The only person he ever lost to was Monk Gyatso. "Remember, this is a game of the minds so-"

He stopped short when he saw Toph's opening move. The lotus tile in the far right corner. Aang shivered, remembering how many merciless defeats he had suffered whenever Monk Gyatso used that opening move. True, Pai Sho definitely wasn't violent, but it still doesn't erase the shame of being completely dominated.

"Er... so... how come you chose that as your opening move?" he asked.

"Huh? I dunno, just seemed right," she said indifferently.

Aang breathed a sigh of relief. That's right, he just taught her how to play. She wouldn't know to use an advanced strategy like that. _Besides,_ he thought, putting down his own tile, _all I have to do is use the counter-strategy-_

His train of throught crashed when Toph immediately put down another tile. There was no mistaking it. It was Gyatso's counter-counter-strategy. He glanced up nervously at Toph.

"Er... Toph, are you sure this is your first time playing Pai Sho?"

"Yeah."

"And you only learned just now? From me, right?"

"That's right. Why?"

"Oh... erm... it's nothing..."

-x-

"Liar!"

Toph raised an eyebrow in irritation. "What are you talking about Twinkle toes?"

"You said you just learned Pai Sho! Then how do you know Gyatso's strategy? Did you spy on our games whenever I played with him?"

"...Twinkle toes... you do remember that you're over a hundred years old right? Oh yeah, and I'm blind, in case you've forgotten that too."

Still, that dose of reality wasn't enough to bring Aang down. "Then you must've cheated! Cheater!"

Toph rolled her eyes and leaned back, propping herself up on her elbows. She never knew Aang could be so touchy over such a thing. Then again, she had experienced this a lot of times. The sheer number of complaints and accusations she got when she first joined and won the Earth Rumble were amazing. The embarrassment of losing to a newcomer, a girl, a kid, and a blind person all rolled into one was apparently too much for most of the competitors.

"Yes, that's right... you're too proud to just lose... and it would have been easy for you to cheat with this stone Pai Sho set..."

Seeing that Aang was a little out of it at the moment, Toph stood up. "I'm going to sleep."

"No! I want a rematch!"

"I gave you a rematch!" Toph yelled. "Five of them, and you lost them all!"

"Because you cheated!"

"I'm outta here!" With that, Toph stormed out of the hall, leaving behind a fuming Aang.

Aang sat down, crossing his legs and his arms. He wasn't going to admit defeat. He lay awake the entire night, thinking of his counter-counter-counter-(insert countless 'counter' here)-counter-strategy. He still lost though. The stone Pai Sho table was destroyed the day after.

* * *

A/N: Once more, I'm sorry for the wait. The thing is, it looked like I underestimated the extra lessons, and it takes a really long time to get them down right. My original plan was to have all the extra lessons done at once along with the final chapter, but if I kept with that, it would take a long time. So, I decided to split the extra lessons, meaning I'm still not done! There's still an Extra Lessons part 2!

So, while you still have the chance, keep suggesting extra lessons! Not sure when the next chapter will be, but I'll do my best! Oh, and review plz!


	17. Extra Lessons 2: Postwar Lessons

A/N: It's finally here! The day I can put this fic to rest! I think it's been what, 4 months? And I come back with this just this stuff? Anyway, go ahead and read.

* * *

**Extra Lessons 2: Post-war Lessons**

First Aid Lesson

"Ow... that really hurt."

Aang lay face down in the middle of a barren field. He had overdone it a bit with his bending training. Maybe it was a bit too soon to try moves that used all four elements together.

Now that the war was over, Aang travelled the world doing anything and everything that concerned the duties of the Avatar, such as settling disputes and stuff. It was a pretty boring gig, but someone had to do it.

Aang slowly picked himself off the ground, wincing as he felt the cuts, bruises, and burns on his body. He was going to need some help getting patched up. It was a good thing she was with him at the moment.

Not too far away, Toph was done cleaning up camp. Well, actually, she had just thrown everything into a pile on Appa's saddle as soon as she heard a large explosion in Aang's direction. Whatever Twinkle toes was doing, it was bound to be dangerous... and fun.

Toph was the one who joined him the most during his travels. With Katara teaching waterbending at the South Pole, Sokka and Suki dating, and Zuko being Fire Lord, everyone was pretty busy nowadays. And Toph being Toph, she always went were the fun stuff was. Remembering Aang's offer, she took up the unofficial position of co-Avatar.

"Hey, Twinkle toes!" she yelled as she ran up to him. "Let me join in!"

"Unnghh..."

"Twinkle toes?" Some of the excitement had drained from her voice. She could tell by the way he was moving that he was pretty badly hurt. "What's up? Your new technique blow up in your face?"

"Actually, yes," he groaned. "A little help, please?"

"Baby." Nevertheless, she hooked an arm under his shoulder and helped him get back to Appa. As he leaned on her, Toph could feel the extent of his injuries. They weren't major, but they were still pretty bad. He had even burned off most of his robe.

Aang shuffled through their bags, looking for bandages, disinfectant, and ointment for his wounds. Having found the proper bag, he got down the saddle slowly.

"Hey, Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"Help me out, would you?" he asked, holding out the bag.

"Don't be a baby and do it yourself." She didn't even turn to his direction. It was as if this happened everyday.

Aang puffed his cheeks out in irritation. She could be a little more helpful. It wasn't that big of a problem though. He knew how to deal with her now.

"I see... and who exactly is the baby who comes to me for first-aid whenever she gets injured in training?"

She shot up, her face showing defiance. "Hey! I don't ask you to patch me up!"

"Fine, but you'd be groaning the whole day if I didn't," Aang answered cheekily.

They stood in silence, having another one of their glaring matches.

Toph sighed. It was amazing how persistent the airhead could be. "Fine."

-x-

"Owowowowow! I said gently! Gently!" Aang yelled.

At the moment, Toph was disinfecting the more serious wounds on Aang's body. Rather than dabbing the open wounds, she was practically scrubbing the disinfectant-soaked cotton into it. Aang doubted she would have gone easier on it if he had given her steel wool to work with.

"Quiet down, will you? I don't whine when you treat me."

"That's because I don't try to rub your skin raw when- OW! Not too tight!"

Toph had finally started wrapping bandages around the first wound. Unfortunately for Aang, the way she was doing it was as if she were tying a boat to shore, pulling the bandages as hard as she could. She had actually placed a foot on his back and was pushing against him to pull the bandages tighter.

"OWOWOWOW!" Aang was starting to think that getting Toph to give him first aid wasn't such a great idea.

"Quit being a baby! That's just the first one!" Aang shuddered, thinking of how many times he would have to go through the ordeal. He'd probably pass out from the pain.

Toph paused to think, putting a hand to her chin.

"Hm, we need a way to distract you from the pain..."

"That's not the case! You just have to do it more gently!"

Toph just ignored him. "In that case, I should just..." Toph slowly reached out and gently wrapped her hands around the back of Aang's neck. He froze. Toph's face was slowly moving closer to his. What was she doing?

"T-Toph-"

"Hah!"

Toph suddenly cocked her head back, and then pulling on the back of Aang's head, gave him a powerful headbutt. The monk instantly went unconscious.

Toph rubbed the sore spot on her forehead, hardly minding the sting. "There! He should be nice and quiet for a while!" She took the bandages in her hands once more but paused, just as she was about to resume tending to the wounded boy.

"Er... how do I do this again? And where was he injured again?"

When Aang woke up, his whole body was bandaged together. He had to burn the stuff off, injuring himself again. He didn't bother asking Toph for help this time though.

* * *

Riding Lesson _(suggested by AvatarAiris)_

Aang and Toph were on the usual routine, travelling around, checking situations in villages, settling disputes, the regular stuff. At the moment, Toph was leaning against Appa, a bored look in her eyes, while she played with Momo who was taking a nap on her stomach.

She shuffled around in Appa's fur, finding a more comfortable position. Maybe she could get a quick nap in before...

"Toph!"

Aang quickly rushed out of the building where he had been meeting with the village elder. From what she coult tell from the pace of his heartbeat, something big was up.

"Quick, get on Appa!"

"What's going on?" She jumped up into Appa's saddle along with Momo and sat at the back, waiting for Aang to take the reigns. Surprisingly, he landed right next to her.

"Wha-"

"I have my hands full right now, so I need you to fly Appa!" There was a definite note of urgency. She could hear the rustling of paper from Aang's hands. Whatever it was, it needed his full attention.

"Um, Twinkle toes, I don't think-"

"Hurry! There's not much time! Just pull the reigns in the directions I tell you."

"Argh! Okay!" She ran up to Appa's head and took the reigns in her hands. "Yip yip!"

Soon, they were up in the air, with Aang giving Toph a crash course on driving air bisons. Toph definitely preferred riding a glider than steering Appa. She couldn't feel the air currents very well, and she didn't have as much freedom as a glider.

"Here! Bring Appa down here Toph!"

Toph quickly nudged Appa downward, managing a relatively safe landing. Relatively, meaning that there were no life-threatening injuries.

"Ow..."

"Come on, Toph!" Aang was already up, pulling Toph to her feet. "We gotta go!"

"What! Where?"

Aang didn't bother answering and continued to pull Toph from the crash site, instructing Appa to stay put. They rushed to a nearby structure where Aang showed the scroll in his hands to a man waiting outside. The man nodded once, and opened a large gate.

"What is that?" Toph yelled.

"It's a komodo-rhino," Aang answered. "Quick, get on! You're driving again."

-x-

Toph was panting as she got off the latest animal they had been riding. They kept on moving from place to place, riding different animals with her always steering. So far, she had ridden a flying bison, a komodo-rhino, an elephant koi, a rabbi-roo, an eel hound, and a lot more.

"Toph! We're almost there!"

She grunted irritably. Aang would never answer whenever she asked what the heck it was they were doing. They made it over the crest of a hill. From the top, Aang could see another village about a mile away.

"There it is! We're gonna make it!" Aang yelled with excitement. "We're gonna win the race!"

It was as if time froze the moment Aang uttered those words. Everything fell silent as the two stopped in their tracks.

"...race?"

If there was a voice that could kill, that would be it. The menacing tone in Toph's voice sent a chill down Aang's spine as he quickly broke into a cold sweat.

"You dragged me halfway across the Earth Kingdom... giving me crash courses on riding every animal imaginable... for some _race_?"

Toph began advancing toward Aang. For every steady step forward, Aang took a shaky step back.

"But you wouldn't have agreed," he said shakily, "and the rules said... and look!" His voice grew more confident, thinking he had found something they would both agree with. "We're almost there! Aren't you happy you got to learn how to ride so many wonderful animals?"

A mile away, in the final stop of the race, a deafening explosion was heard. A cloud of dust rose in the distace forming a giant mushroom in the sky. Aang would always remember this moment as the time he was closest to crossing to the spirit world.

* * *

Reading and Writing Lesson

"Hey, Twinkle toes."

"Hm?"

"I'm bored."

"Hmm..."

"I said I'm bored!"

"Mmhmm... that's nice..."

"Would you put the stupid book down and actually listen?"

Aang didn't even glance up. He had picked up the book as they were passing by a village. It was apparently quite a hit among young adults around the different nations. With Aang too it seemed. Ever since they had paused for a break between towns, Aang hadn't put the book down.

"What's so good about that stupid book anyway? You make it look like it's more fun than training."

"Mmhmm..."

Toph's eye twitched. That was the last straw. She had been looking forward to this stopover. She had been itching to have another sparring match with Aang. But now getting Aang to look up from the book was a complete chore.

"Why don't you read a book?" Aang asked. "We've got a lot more."

"Hm, let me think about it... No," she said flatly. "Can't read."

Though Toph couldn't see it, she knew that something had suddenly sparked in Aang's eyes.

"No!" Toph yelled.

"I haven't said anything yet!"

"You want to teach me to read, and I say no!" Toph paused. "That goes for writing too!"

Aang smirked. "Fine. Then I'll just read this book on my own while you can just sit there bored."

Toph growled at him. She knew he was messing with her again. But this time, Toph wasn't going to fall it, no matter what. Just as she was about to walk away, she could feel Aang bending something on the ground's surface. It didn't feel like he was making a structure, but rather simply making marks and ridges in the ground.

She was unable to contain her curiosity. "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing a message for you."

"But I'm right here."

"I know."

"I can't read."

Aang turned to face her, a glint in his eyes. "Exactly."

An internal battle started inside Toph's head. There was no way she was going to let Twinkle toes play with her again. She had already decided that she didn't want to learn how to read. That was that. Toph could feel Aang adding a few more words.

_But... what was he writing?_

Was he baiting her? That was almost a given, but after the beating she gave him the last time he pulled a stunt, she doubted he would mess with her lightheartedly again. That probably meant knowing what he had written would be of great benefit to her. Probably...

Toph grumbled. How many times so far did Aang have her swallow her pride? "Alright... teach me."

Aang smiled. Taking the proper stance, he earthbended a symbol into the ground.

"Then let's begin. This is the letter 'a'. It makes the sounds..."

-x-

Toph dragged herself away from the forest clearing, practically crawling. She had pride in her physical endurance, but mental endurance was another thing. And to think she had been getting reading and writing lessons eight hours a day for a week.

But she was finally done! After a week of hellish training, Aang had finally announced that lessons were done and she was finally allowed to read the message. He had been very careful to keep her away from it so that she wouldn't read it before her lessons were done.

Now, she stood before the message Aang had etched into the earth a week ago. A week's work of pain about to pay off. She gave the ground a hard stomp, reading the letters with earthbending.

_Toph,_

_I got a present for you. I left it for you by the creak, where Appa goes to get himself washed. Congrats on learning!_

_-Aang_

-x-_  
_

Aang made his way to the spot where he had left his present. He wanted to see whether Toph had gotten it yet. It had taken a while, but Aang was actually able to rewrite the book he was reading on stone tablets, so that even Toph could enjoy the wonder of books.

Upon reaching the place, he noticed something. He had left the 'book' on a stone pedestal, so that Toph could easily find it. The book was gone, and the pedestal's face was now covered with the marks of a message. Aang smiled, happy that Toph had actually left a message for him. She really was applying what he had taught her. He bent down, reading the text.

_Aang,_

_It was supposed to be 'creek', not 'creak'._

_-Toph_

* * *

Chakra Lesson _(suggested by Larkawolfgirl)_

It was peacefully quiet. A gentle wind blew across the silent ruins that were the Eastern Air Temple. Yet even though the place was in ruins, there was a certain serenity in the area that added drama to the moment. Aang stood on top of a ledge, gazing out at the vast scenery in front of him with over a hundred years wisdom in his eyes.

"Toph, it seems that your co-Avatar lessons are coming to an end."

She lay spread-eagled on the floor, completely uninterested. "Since when have I been taking co-Avatar lessons?" It was almost amazing how easy it was for her to destroy the atmosphere Aang had tried so hard to create. Still, he persisted.

"The time has now come for you to open your chakras and let the energy inside of you flow."

Toph yawned openly. He still wasn't getting any form of reaction from her.

_It doesn't matter though_, he thought, hiding a smile.

He sat down in a meditative position, facing her. Toph sighed, mimicking him. It was another one of those times where it was better to indulge the airhead than ignore him. "Let us begin by opening the earth chakra, located at the base of the spine. It deals with survival and is blocked by fear."

"Now..." This time, he didn't bother hiding his smirk. "What do you fear?"

"Nothing." Absolutely no reaction.

Aang was at a loss for words. He was hoping for some kind of reaction, like getting suddenly embarrassed or something like that. But she was completely calm.

"C-C'mon Toph, no need to be shy," Aang said, trying again. "Everyone has something they're afraid of."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true, but I can't think of anything."

"B-but-"

"Well, I supposed I used to be afraid that being blind would stop me from being a great earthbender, but I got over it."

Things weren't going the way Aang had thought they would. Even when she was admitting her fears (albeit past ones), she still wasn't showing any kind of reaction. It wasn't _exactly_ his intention to embarrass Toph. It was more of a side show, entertainment as they unlocked her chakras.

Aang sighed. He supposed Toph had gotten used to being more honest with herself and others. Where was he supposed to get his kicks now?

Still, there was something he had to check. He stood up and took a seat behind Toph, ignoring her curious gaze. He reached out and lightly touched her lower back, where the earth chakra was supposed to be. Unfortunately, from Toph's point of view, it wasn't the base of her spine he was touching, but something a little bit lower.

It only took a second from that moment to Aang being sprawled on the ground, bordering on unconsciousness. Toph was getting a lot faster with her earthbending. "W-What the hell do you think you're groping?"

Aang allowed himself a groan before answering. He spoke from the ground, not moving to let the pain pass. "What are you talking about? I wanted to check your chakra. I said it was at the base of your spine, right?"

"O-oh..."

Aang propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Toph. "Why? What did you think I was doing?"

"Sh-Shut it! Just get over here and do what you were going to do."

A few minutes later, Aang was crouched behind Toph, checking the flow of her energy through the earth chakra. It was as he thought. Toph had already opened her chakra on her own. She had already come to terms with her own fears.

Aang stood up. "Hang on, let me check something."

"Huh? What's up?"

He moved to her front and knelt down. "Your earth chakra is already open. I want to check your water chakra now."

"And the water chakra-?"

"-deals with pleasure, blocked by guilt, is at the groin." Toph had to smile. Aang knew not to bore her with the details.

_Wait, did he say groin?_

Toph backed away as fast as she could, her face darkening several shades of red. "G-Get away! You are _not_ touching me there!"

"W-what!" The red in his face matched Toph's perfectly, if it wasn't worse. "Of course I wasn't going to touch your... er... that place. I just need to be close enough to feel the energy, though it will take longer."

Toph reluctantly conceded, allowing his to come close enough. Though, Aang's 'close enough' was _really_ close in Toph's opinion. He was actually close enough for her to give him a full hug, close enough that the air between them was starting to get warm from their body heat. Add to the fact that there was an absence of light conversation, it made for a very awkward moment.

Finally, just when Toph was at her limit, Aang stood up. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad that some measure of personal space had returned.

"Your water chakra's open too. I should have figured though," Aang said, smirking teasingly. "Have you ever even felt guilty about anything?"

"Well, there were a few times, but I got over them too," she answered with a smug smile.

"I already checked your fire chakra too, since the two chakras were close. It deals with willpower and is blocked by shame. Apparently, you don't have anything to be ashamed about either, or you've accepted those parts of yourself."

Toph grinned cockily. "Wow, this turned out to be a piece of cake. What's next?"

"The air chakra, found at the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief. Can I-?" Aang made a motion to come closer.

Toph nodded, allowing him to invade her personal space once more. It hadn't been ten seconds when Aang reacted to something.

"Huh? That's weird."

"What's wrong?"

"I dunno, but I need to check it out." Aang paused, slightly embarrassed. "Er... do you mind?" he asked, raising his hand.

Toph realized he was asking for permission to touch her. She turned a light pink at the thought. 'Permission to touch' was not a good way to word it.

"F-Fine... but if your hand moves any lower..." Toph trailed off, letting Aang's imagination do the rest. He gulped. It was enough to do the trick.

He reached out and lightly pressed his hand over her heart, feeling the energy circling withing the chakra. There was definitely something weird.

Trying to lift some of the awkwardness in the air, Toph tried to start a conversation. "So? What's going on?"

"I... don't really know. It's not blocked that's for sure. But... it's like energy isn't circling, it's just sitting there."

"And that would happen why?"

Aang furrowed his eyebrows, thinking as hard as he could. "Well, since there's nothing blocking the chakra, you haven't experienced grief, or you've accepeted it. No problem there."

He moved closer, pressing his hand a little more firmly onto her chest. Toph could feel her face heat up again from the contact.

"Huh? Hey, the energy's starting to move a bit. What's going on?"

"I-I dunno..." Toph was really starting to feel uncomfortable. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Oh, right. Like I said, nothing's blocking your chakra. There _is_ energy in there, meaning you have no problem in experiencing love, but the energy inside is-"

"Waitwaitwait, back up. What's this about 'experiencing love'?"

"Oh, didn't I explain it yet? Since chakras deal with things such as survival, pleasure, and such, it also becomes a sort of energy source. For example, the stronger a person's willpower, the more energy there is in his fire chakra. So if we go by that logic..."

Toph wasn't listening anymore. She had never thought about her 'loving' anything in her whole life. And then it turns out that she had some sort of 'capacity' for it or something, that she's already experiencing it, if she understood Aang correctly.

"Hm..." Aang stepped back, fondling his chin in thought. "The only thing I can think of is this: you're not expressing your 'love'."

Seeing Toph's jaw drop open, he knew she thought it was ridiculous, but it was the only thing that seemed right. "Think about it," he said. "There's energy inside the chakra, so you do feel love. There's nothing blocking the chakra, so energy is supposed to flow freely. But it doesn't, because you're holding the energy, or your love, back."

Aang paused, realizing the opportunities, his mouth curving into a matching smirk. "So... is there someone you want to express your love to?"

Toph face grew redder a few shades. "N-no! Of couse not!"

"Really? Then why the stuttering? Why the violent reaction?"

Toph couldn't say anything. She had nothing to answer to that. But the simple thought of her expressing love to someone was just too... actually, she didn't know, but she didn't like it.

Aang laughed, unable to help himself. He wouldn't be surprised if Toph suddenly collapsed judging by how much blood was rushing to her face. Well, he supposed he's had his fun. It was time to help her out a bit.

"You know, Toph, it doesn't have to be a 'boyfriend' kind of love. It can be love for a friend, pet, or family. For example..." He grinned again. Maybe just one more jibe. "How would you show your love for me?"

He had expected her to flush a darker red, stuttering incoherent words. But what happened was the opposite. Her embarrassed state disappeared as if the past few moments never happened. An evil smirk spread across her face.

"I see... All I need to do is express myself..." She started cracking her knuckles. Definitely not a good sign.

-x-

Aang staggered to Appa, completely exhausted. He allowed himself to collapse into the saddle with a groan. Judging from the sore spots that covered his body, he estimated that he wouldn't be able to move for about a week. They never even got around to finishing the task of opening all of Toph's chakras. She had gotten too enthusiastic about expressing her 'love'.

Toph sat down next to him. "Wimp. That wasn't even four hours."

He ignored the insult. "Toph, do me a favor."

"Huh?"

"Don't love me so much."

A smug smile spread across her face. "I'll think about it."

* * *

A/N: Honestly, I'm kinda disappointed with this chap. I kinda ran out of steam for writing, especially since the Avatar stuff is starting to die down, and some of the readers already viewed this fic as complete. Also used the good ideas for the last extra chap. But I really didn't want to mark this as completed when I said I would pull out another extra chapter. So I kinda pushed for this. Unfortunately, this is what turned up, a somewhat rushed and not-so-well-put-together final chapter. I guess I only really liked the last lesson, even though it might have gotten a bit too shippy for my taste.

Actually, I have to admit, I also have another motive for completing this chapter. I've recently had a number of ideas for stories, but since none of them can fit in any fandom I'm comfortable with, I've decided to start working on original works at fictionpress. So this is some kinda weak attempt at some publicity. I have the same pen name there and there's also a link in my profile. Hope you read my stories there too.

So, that's it! It's done! Thank you guys so much for supporting this fic! And I hope you review my other stories in the future!


End file.
